Forest Green
by mgrace2000
Summary: 1. Find Jason Grace 2. Find out who the woman in her head claiming to be her mother was. 3. Go to Alaska. And win. 4. Try not to kill Percy Jackson in the process. Daria liked her chances. Besides, anything was better than that quest to Charleston.
1. percy jackson

If Daria had known that a child of Neptune was going to carry a goddess into camp, she probably would've stayed in bed that day.

But here she was, standing side by side with Reyna, sword drawn, although the raven haired boy seemed to have it covered. The river surged. Whirlpools formed on either side of Frank Zhang, one of their newest recruits. Giant watery hands erupted from the stream, copying movements. The giant hands grabbed the gorgons, who dropped Frank in surprise. Then the hands lifted the squawking monsters in a liquid vise grip.

The sentries yelped and scattered as the boy plunged the gorgons into the water, effectively turning them to dust. He stood, his chest heaving, his skin steaming from the water of the _Tiberis_. Daria ignored the hippie goddess for a moment, instinctively scanning the field for any damage. Frank Zhang along with his friend Hazel Levesque looked all right, as did the cowardly sentries hiding behind her and the Praetor.

"What are you doing here?" Daria demanded. She had to be a goddess, no one else would have such a twisted sense of humor. Daria ignored Reyna's warning hand on her arm. No. The gods had all but tortured her these last few months, her Roman sense of obedience went out the window.

"Well, that was a lovely trip," she said, ignoring Daria completely. "Thank you, Percy Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter."

Reyna made a choking sound. "Percy... Jackson?" Daria knew Reyna was staring at her, but she kept her eyes straight ahead. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of Daria's stomach as the legionnaires started muttering behind her, _this was not going to be good_.

The goddess laughed with delight. "Oh, yes. You'll have such fun together!"

Then, because Daria couldn't get any angrier, the old lady began to glow and change form. She grew until she was a shining, seven-foot-tall goddess in a blue dress, with a cloak that looked like goat's skin over her shoulders. Her face was stern and stately. In her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower.

If it was possible for the campers to look more stunned, they did. Reyna. The others followed her lead. Michael got down so hastily he almost impaled himself on his sword.

Daria was the first to speak, she had remained standing, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "Juno."

"Juno, huh?" Percy said. "If I passed your test, can I have my memory and my life back?"

The goddess smiled. "Oh the Jacksons, always so impatient. In time, Percy Jackson, if you succeed here at camp. You've done well today, which is a good start. Perhaps there's

hope for you yet."

She turned to the other kids. "Romans, I present to you the son of Neptune. For months he has been slumbering, but now he is awake. His fate is in your hands. The Feast of Fortune comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle. Do not fail me!"

Juno shimmered and disappeared. Percy looked at Hazel and Frank for some kind of explanation, but they were rightfully just as confused. Daria turned to her best friend, "This is...unconventional at best I know, but I'm sure there's an explanation. Whatever happens, we-you must be fair."

Reyna stepped forward warily, and Daria quickly followed suit. The Praetor examined Percy in detail, and with the look on her face, Daria wouldn't be surprised if she ran him through with her dagger.

"So," Reyna said coldly, "a son of Neptune, who comes to us with the blessing of Juno."

"Look," he said, "my memory's a little fuzzy. Um, it's gone, actually. Do I know you?"

The girl hesitated. "I am Reyna, praetor of the Twelfth Legion. And... no, I don't know you." That last part was a lie. Daria could tell from her eyes. But she hoped that Percy would have the sense not to argue with her in front of about half of New Rome.

"Daria, take Hazel with you," said Reyna, "bring him inside. We'll want to question him at the principia. Then we'll send him to Octavian. We must consult the auguries before we decide what to do with him."

"What do you mean," Percy asked, '"decide what to do with' me?"

Reyna's hand tightened on her dagger. She wasn't used to having her orders questioned, Daria took over before anyone could get skewered. "Before we accept anyone into camp, we must interrogate them and read the auguries. Juno said your fate is in our hands. We have to know whether the goddess has brought us as a new recruit..."

Reyna studied Percy as if she found that doubtful.

"Or," Daria continued more grimly "if she's brought us an enemy to kill."

Although Percy was a bit scared of the girl with no name, and terrified of Reyna, he wasn't scared of ghosts, which was lucky. Half the people in camp were dead.

Shimmering purple warriors stood outside the armory, polishing ethereal swords. Others hung out in front of the barracks. A ghostly boy chased a ghostly dog down the street. And at the stables, a big glowing red dude with the head of a wolf guarded a herd of... Were those unicorns?

None of the campers paid the ghosts much attention, but as Percy's entourage walked by, with Reyna and the other girl talking quietly with each other in the lead and Frank and Hazel on either side, all the spirits stopped what they were doing and stared at Percy. A few looked angry. The little boy ghost shrieked something like "Greggus!" and turned invisible.

Percy wished he could turn invisible too. After weeks on his own, all this attention made him uneasy. He stayed between Hazel and Frank and tried to look inconspicuous.

"Am I seeing things?" he asked. "Or are those — "

"Ghosts?" Hazel turned. She had startling eyes, like fourteen-karat gold. "They're Lares. House gods."

"House gods," Percy said. "Like... smaller than real gods, but larger than apartment gods?"

"They're ancestral spirits," Frank explained. He'd removed his helmet, revealing a babyish face that didn't go with his military haircut or his big burly frame. He looked like a toddler who'd taken steroids and joined the Marines.

"The Lares are kind of like mascots," he continued. "Mostly they're harmless, but I've never seen them so agitated."

"They're staring at me," Percy said. "That ghost kid called me Greggus. My name isn't Greg."

"Graecus ," Hazel said. "Once you've been here a while, you'll start understanding Latin. Demigods have a natural sense for it. Graecus means Greek."

"Is that bad?" Percy asked. The strange girl with shoulder-length black hair glanced back at them, like her forest-green eyes were trying to give him an answer. She didn't have the purple cape like Reyna, but it was clear that she was a leader. If Percy's counting was correct, the girl had 13 stripes on her harm, far more than anyone else, even though she couldn't be any older than 16.

She was familiar, much more familiar than anyone else at this place anyway. But when he tried to place a name to the face he drew a blank. Percy wondered when she was going to introduce herself, but she didn't seem particularly pressed by the issue. He would call her Eagle 2 until she did.

Frank cleared his throat. "Maybe not. You've got that type of complexion, the dark hair and all. Maybe they think you're actually Greek. Is your family from there?"

"Don't know. Like I said, my memory is gone."

"Or maybe..." Frank hesitated.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Probably nothing," Frank said. "Romans and Greeks have an old rivalry. Sometimes Romans use graecus as an insult for someone who's an outsider — an enemy. I wouldn't worry about it."

He sounded pretty worried.

They stopped at the center of camp, where two wide stone-paved roads met at a T.

A street sign labeled the road to the main gates as via praetoria. The other road, cutting across the middle of camp, was labeled via principalis. Linder those markers were hand-painted signs like 5 miles; NEW ROME 1 MLE; OLD ROME 7280 MLS; HADES 2310 MLS (pointing straight down); RENO 208 MLS, AMD CERTAIN DEATH: YOU ARE HERE!

For certain death, the place looked pretty clean and orderly. The buildings were freshly whitewashed, laid out in neat grids like the camp had been designed by a fussy math teacher. The barracks had shady porches, where campers lounged in hammocks or played cards and drank sodas. Each dorm had a different collection of banners out front displaying Roman numerals and various animals — eagle, bear, wolf, horse, and something that looked like a hamster.

Along the Via Praetoria, rows of shops advertised food, armor, weapons, coffee, gladiator equipment, and toga rentals. A chariot dealership had a big advertisement out front: CAESAR XLS W/ANTILOCK BRAKES, NO DENARII DOWN!

At one corner of the crossroads stood the most impressive building — a two-story wedge of white marble with a columned portico like an old-fashioned bank. Roman guards stood out front. Over the doorway hung a big purple banner with the gold letters SPQR embroidered inside a laurel wreath.

"Your headquarters?" Percy asked.

Reyna faced him, her eyes still cold and hostile. "It's called the principia."

Eagle 2 scanned the mob of curious campers who had followed them from the river. "Everyone back to your duties. Reyna will give you an update at evening muster. Remember, we have war games after dinner." She acted like a leader, sounded like a leader, so Percy was brought back to his original question: Why didn't she have a purple cape?

He didn't miss Reyna's eyes flash with instinctive annoyance, and then seemed to remember that Eagle 2 wasn't trying to undermine her and relaxed. She nodded her head, "Do as Daria says." So that was her name.

The thought of dinner made Percy's stomach rumble. The scent of barbecue from the dining hall made his mouth water. The bakery down the street smelled pretty wonderful too, but he doubted Reyna would let him get an order to go.

The crowd dispersed reluctantly. Some muttered comments about Percy's chances.

"He's dead," said one.

"Would be those two who found him," said another.

"Yeah," muttered another. "Let him join the Fifth Cohort. Greeks and geeks." Several kids laughed at that, but Daria glowered at them, and they cleared off.

"Hazel," Reyna said. "Come with us. I want your report on what happened at the gates."

"Me too?" Frank said. "Percy saved my life. We've got to let him — "

Reyna gave Frank such a harsh look, he stepped back.

"I'd remind you, Frank Zhang," she said, "you are on probatio yourself. You've caused enough trouble this week."

Frank's ears turned red. He fiddled with a little tablet on a cord around his neck. Percy hadn't paid much attention to it, but it looked like a name tag made out of lead.

"Go to the armory," Reyna told him. "Check our inventory. I'll call you if I need you."

"But — " Frank caught himself. "Yes, Reyna."

He hurried off.

Reyna waved Hazel and Percy toward the headquarters. "Now, Percy…. Jackson, let's see if we can improve your memory." There it was again, the hesitance at his last name.

The principia was even more impressive inside. On the ceiling glittered a mosaic of Romulus and Remus under their adopted mama she-wolf (Lupa had told Percy that story a million times). The floor was polished marble. The walls were draped in velvet, so Percy felt like he was inside the world's most expensive camping tent. Along the back wall stood a display of banners and wooden poles studded with bronze medals — military symbols, Percy guessed. In the center was one empty display stand, as if the main banner had been taken down for cleaning or something.

In the back corner, a stairwell led down. It was blocked by a row of iron bars like a prison door. Percy wondered what was down there — monsters? Treasure? Amnesiac demigods who had gotten on Reyna's bad side?

In the center of the room, a long wooden table was cluttered with scrolls, notebooks, tablet computers, daggers, and a large bowl filled with jelly beans, which seemed kind of out of place. Two life-sized statues of greyhounds — one silver, one gold — flanked the table. Reyna and Daria walked behind the table and sat in two of three high-backed chairs. Daria studied the other one, a sad expression in her in eyes, and Percy was hit by a pang of longing so powerful that he could feel the ache himself. Percy wished he could sit in the other, but Hazel remained standing. Percy got the feeling he was supposed to also.

"So..." he started to say.

The dog statues bared their teeth and growled.

Percy froze. Normally he liked dogs, but these glared at him with ruby eyes. Their fangs looked sharp as razors.

"Easy, guys," Daria told the greyhounds.

They stopped growling, but kept eyeing Percy as though they were imagining him in a doggie bag.

"They won't attack," Reyna said, "unless you try to steal something, or unless I tell them to. That's Argentum and Aurum."

"Silver and Gold," Percy said. The Latin meanings popped into his head like Hazel had said they would. He almost asked which dog was which. Then he realized that that was a stupid question.

Reyna set her dagger on the table. Percy had the vague feeling he'd seen her before too. Her hair was black and glossy as volcanic rock, woven in a single braid down her back. She had the poise of a sword fighter — relaxed yet vigilant, as if ready to spring into action at any moment. The worry lines around her eyes made her look older than she probably was.

"We have met," he decided. "I don't remember when. Please, if you can tell me anything.." Daria tried to mask her surprise, maybe she didn't know anything..

"First things first," Reyna said. "I want to hear your story. What do you remember? How did you get here? And don't lie. My dogs don't like liars." Argentum and Aurum snarled to emphasize the point. Percy told his story — how he'd woken up at the ruined mansion in the woods of Sonoma. He described his time with Lupa and her pack, learning their language of gestures and expressions, learning to survive and fight.

Lupa had taught him about demigods, monsters, and gods. She'd explained that she was one of the guardian spirits of Ancient Rome. Demigods like Percy were still responsible for carrying on Roman traditions in modern times — fighting monsters, serving the gods, protecting mortals, and upholding the memory of the empire. She'd spent weeks training him, until he was as strong and tough and vicious as a wolf. When she was satisfied with his skills, she'd sent him south, telling him that if he survived the journey, he might find a new home and regain his memory.

None of it seemed to surprise Reyna. In fact, she seemed to find it pretty ordinary — except for one thing.

"No memory at all?" she asked. "You still remember nothing?"

"Fuzzy bits and pieces." Percy glanced at the greyhounds. He didn't want to mention Annabeth. It seemed too private, and he was still confused about where to find her. He was sure they'd met at a camp — but this one didn't feel like the right place.

Also, he was reluctant to share his one clear memory: Annabeth's face, her blond hair and gray eyes, the way she laughed, threw her arms around him, and gave him a kiss whenever he did something stupid.

She must have kissed me a lot, Percy thought.

He feared that if he spoke about that memory to anyone, it would evaporate like a dream. He couldn't risk that.

Reyna spun her dagger. "Most of what you're describing is normal for demigods. At a certain age, one way or another, we find our way to the Wolf House. We're tested and trained. If Lupa thinks we're worthy, she sends us south to join the legion. But I've never heard of someone losing his memory. How did you find Camp Jupiter?"

Percy told her about the last three days — the gorgons who wouldn't die, the old lady who turned out to be a goddess, and finally meeting Hazel and Frank at the tunnel in the hill.

Hazel took the story from there. She described Percy as brave and heroic, which made him uncomfortable. All he'd done was carry a hippie bag lady.

Daria studied him. "You're old for a recruit. You're what, sixteen?"

"I think so," Percy said.

"If you spent that many years on your own, without training or help, you should be dead. A son of Neptune? You'd have a powerful aura that would attract all kinds of monsters."

"Yeah," Percy said. "I've been told that I smell."

Reyna almost cracked a smile, which gave Percy hope. Maybe she was human after all.

"You must've been somewhere before the Wolf House," she said.

Percy shrugged. Juno had said something about him slumbering, and he did have a vague feeling that he'd been asleep — maybe for a long time. But that didn't make sense.

Reyna sighed. "Well, the dogs haven't eaten you, so I suppose you're telling the truth.''

"Great," Percy said. "Next time, can I take a polygraph?"

Reyna stood. She paced in front of the banners. Her metal dogs watched her go back and forth.

"Even if I accept that you're not an enemy," she said, "you're not a typical recruit. The Queen of Olympus simply doesn't appear at camp, announcing a new demigod. The last time a major god visited us in person like that..." She shook her head. "I've only heard legends about such things. And a son of Neptune... that's not a good omen. Especially now."

"What's wrong with Neptune?" Percy asked. "And what do you mean, 'especially now'?"

Hazel shot him a warning look.

Reyna kept pacing. "You've fought Medusa's sisters, who haven't been seen in thousands of years. You've agitated our Lares, who are calling you a graecus. And you wear strange symbols — that shirt, the beads on your necklace. What do they mean?"

Percy looked down at his tattered orange T-shirt. It might have had words on it at one point, but they were too faded to read. He should the shirt away weeks ago. It was worn to shreds, but he couldn't bear to get rid of it. He just kept washing it in streams and water fountains as best he could and putting it back on.

As for the necklace, the four clay beads were each decorated with a different symbol. One showed a trident. Another displayed a miniature Golden Fleece. The third was etched with the design of a maze, and the last had an image of a building — maybe the Empire State Building? — with names Percy didn't recognize engraved around it. The beads felt important, like pictures from a family album, but he couldn't remember what they meant.

"I don't know," he said.

"And your sword?" Reyna asked.

Percy checked his pocket. The pen had reappeared as it always did. He pulled it out, but then realized he'd never shown Reyna the sword. Hazel and Frank hadn't seen it either. How had she known about it?

Too late to pretend it didn't exist... He uncapped the pen. Riptide sprang to full form. Hazel gasped. The greyhounds barked apprehensively.

"What is that?" Hazel asked. "I've never seen a sword like that."

"We have," Daria said darkly. "It's very old — a Greek design. We used to have a few in the armory before..." She stopped herself. "The metal is called Celestial bronze. It's deadly to monsters, like Imperial gold, but even rarer."

"Imperial gold?" Percy asked.

Reyna unsheathed her dagger. Sure enough, the blade was gold. "The metal was consecrated in ancient times, at the Pantheon in Rome. Its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors — a way for their champions to slay monsters that threatened the empire. We used to have more weapons like this, but now... well, we scrape by. I use this dagger. Daria uses twin swords. Hazel has a spatha, a cavalry sword. Most legionnaires use a shorter sword called a gladius. But that weapon of yours is not Roman at all. It's another sign you're not a typical demigod. And your arm..."

"What about it?" Percy asked. He was reminded of the lines on Daria and Hazel, and presumably Reyna, but he couldn't see hers..

"So you've never been a member of the legion," Reyna said. "These marks can't be removed. I thought perhaps..." She shook her head, as if dismissing an idea.

Hazel leaned forward. "If he's survived as a loner all this time, maybe he's seen Jason." She turned to Percy. "Have you ever met a demigod like us before? A guy in a purple shirt, with marks on his arm — "

"Hazel." Daria's voice tightened. "Percy's got enough to worry about."

Percy touched the point of his sword, and Riptide shrank back into a pen. "I haven't seen anyone like you guys before. Who's Jason?"

Reyna gave Hazel an irritated look, and shot a sympathetic one to Daria whose jaw tightened.. "He is... he was my colleague. A...close friend of ours" She waved her hand at the third empty chair. "The legion normally has two elected praetors. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, was our other praetor until he disappeared last October."

"You act like a leader," he looked at Daria, "Why aren't you praetor?"

Daria shrugged, "Never been claimed."

"Daria doesn't need a title," Hazel said firmly. "But she's filling in for Jason for now."

Percy tried to calculate. He hadn't paid much attention to the calendar out in the wilderness, but Juno had mentioned that it was now June. "You mean he's been gone eight months, and you haven't replaced him?"

"He might not be dead," Hazel said. "We haven't given up."

Daria grimaced. Percy got the feeling this guy Jason might've been more to her than just a friend.

"Elections only happen in two ways," Reyna said. "Either the legion raises someone on a shield after a major success on the battlefield — and we haven't had any major battles — or we hold a ballot on the evening of June 24, at the Feast of Fortuna. That's in five days."

Percy frowned. "You have a feast for tuna?"

"Fortuna ," Hazel corrected. "She's the goddess of luck. Whatever happens on her feast day can affect the entire rest of the year. She can grant the camp good luck... or really bad luck."

The three girls glanced at the empty display stand, as if thinking about what was missing.

A chill went down Percy's back. "The Feast of Fortune... The gorgons mentioned that. So did Juno. They said the camp was going to be attacked on that day, something about a big bad goddess named Gaea, and an army, and Death being unleashed. You're telling me that day is this week?"

Reyna's fingers tightened around the hilt of her dagger.

"You will say nothing about that outside this room," she ordered. "I will not have you spreading more panic in the camp."

"So it's true," Percy said. "Do you know what's going to happen? Can we stop it?"

Percy had just met these people. He wasn't sure he even liked Reyna. But he wanted to help. They were demigods, the same as him. They had the same enemies. Besides, Percy remembered what Juno had told him: it wasn't just this camp at risk. His old life, the gods, and the entire world might be destroyed. Whatever was coming down, it was huge.

"We've talked enough for now," Reyna said. "Hazel, take him to Temple Hill. Find Octavian. On the way you can answer Percy's questions. Tell him about the legion. And Daria...go with them, Percy will need you."

"Yes, Reyna."

"No offense," Percy said raising her arms in mock surrender, "But why do I need her?"

"Forgive me," Daria said without giving anything away, "I forgot to introduce myself.' She stuck out her hand, "My name is Daria Jackson." Her eyes were trained on his, looking for reaction, "And before you ask...I don't know who you are."

Percy had so many questions, his brain felt like it would melt. "Good luck with the augury, Percy Jackson," Reyna said. "If Octavian lets you live, perhaps we can compare notes... .about your past."

* * *

Hi! I haven't seen many Son of Neptune fanfictions so I'd thought I'd write one myself. Updates should be every Friday. Review!

All rights go to Rick Riordan


	2. one

The smell of coffee made Daria want to cry.

She had never been one to drink coffee, it made her hands shaky and her mind unpredictable. She preferred hot chocolate, with extra whip and cinnamon on top. But Jason lived on the coffee from their morning run, and the one after lunch, and the one after their sparring practice. There would be days where the stress of being praetor made him miss meals, a habit that Daria disapproved of immensely, but without fail, he had his three cups of coffee.

She supposed Percy Jackson was looking for an explanation as to why she was glaring at his espresso. She didn't give him one.

She didn't know how to feel about him. Juno called him "Son of Neptune", which meant that his mother was mortal (unless he was God. Which, judging by his performance at the river was a likely possibility). Daria didn't remember much about her childhood but she remembered her father vividly, which had to mean they were cousins.

There were some similarities between the two of them. They had the same brown skin tone, the same unruly black hair, the same determined look in their eyes, but that was about it. Percy was nearly six feet tall whereas Daria only stood at 5 foot 3 inches, his eyes were sea green and hers were the color of the forest.

But Percy Jackson was right. She had to figure out why he was here before she did anything dramatic...Or at least that's what the woman inside her head had been saying.

"The bath house," she heard Hazel say, ""We'll get you in there before dinner, hopefully. You haven't lived until you've had a Roman bath." Percy sighed with anticipation. Then his gaze turned to her.

"You have questions," Daria recognized, "And I'm sorry, normally I'd be of some help. But...well, dude who the hell are you?."

Percy snorted, "I was hoping you could tell me." He scratched the back of his head, "I-I don't remember having a sister."

"Well you don't remember much of anything at the moment, do you?" She sighed, "Sorry that was...harsh. All I know for sure is that I can't be your sister, my father's a mortal. So either we just happen to have the same last name…" Percy looked like he thought that was about as unlikely as fauns flying, "or I'm your cousin.".

"But how do you know that he's mortal? If you've been here since you were like, one" he protested. Gods, were possible siblings really this annoying?

"I don't," she grumbled. "But I sure hope Neptune's not my dad. I met him on Olympus once- he wasn't very friendly. And besides, a child of Neptune in the First Cohort?"

"Daria is the Primus Pilus," Hazel said earnestly. "She's the centurion of the best cohort in New Rome."

Percy's sea-green eyes focused on her intensely, "But numbers don't mean anything," she said. "Some of the best people I know are from the Fifth." Like Jason. "Let's keep walking."

"You guys are divided into different cabins?" he asked.

"Sort of." They ducked as a kid riding a giant eagle swooped overhead. "We have five cohorts of about forty kids each. Each cohort is divided into barracks often — like roommates, kind of."

"You're telling me there's two hundred kids at camp?"

"Roughly," said Hazel.

"And all of them are children of the gods? The gods have been busy."

Hazel laughed. "Not all of them are children of major gods. There are hundreds of minor Roman gods. Plus, a lot of the campers are legacies — second or third generation. Maybe their parents were demigods. Or their grandparents."

Percy blinked. "Children of demigods?"

"Why? Does that surprise you?" Hazel should have been more clear. Most of the legion knew that they should expect death early in life. The ones who survived were few and far between, and they weren't warriors.

"These Legos — "

"Legacies," Hazel corrected.

"That's not even a difficult word," Daria grumbled.

"They have powers like a demigod?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes not. But they can be trained. All the best Roman generals and emperors — you know, they all claimed to be descended from gods. Most of the time, they were telling the truth. The camp augur we're going to meet, Octavian, he's a legacy, descendant of Apollo, my co-centurion. He's got the gift of prophecy, supposedly."

"Supposedly?"

Daria rolled her eyes. "You'll see."

"So the divisions," he asked, "the cohorts, whatever — you're divided according to who your godly parent is?"

Hazel stared at him. "What a horrible idea! No, the officers decide where to assign recruits. If we were divided according to god, the cohorts would be all uneven. I'd be alone, and who knows where Daria would be."

Percy nodded his head "Why? What's your ancestry?"

Before she could answer, someone behind them yelled, "Wait!"

Vitellius ran toward them — an old man with a medicine-ball belly and toga so long he kept tripping on it. He caught up to them and gasped for air, his purple aura flickering around him.

"This is him?" the ghost panted. "A new recruit for the Fifth, perhaps?"

"Vitellius," Hazel said, "we're sort of in a hurry."

Vitellius scowled at Percy and walked around him, inspecting him like a used car. "I don't know," he grumbled. "We need only the best for the cohort. Does he have all his teeth? Can he fight? Does he clean stables?"

"Yes, yes, and no," Percy said. "Who are you?"

"Percy, this is Vitellius." Hazel's expression said: Just humor him. "He's one of our Lares; takes an interest in new recruits."

On a nearby porch, other ghosts snickered as Vitellius paced back and forth, tripping over his toga and hiking up his sword belt.

"Yes," Vitellius said, "back in Caesar's day — that's Julius Caesar, mind you — the Fifth Cohort was something! Twelfth Legion Fulminata, pride of Rome! But these days? Disgraceful what we've come to. Look at Hazel here, using a spatha. Ridiculous weapon for a Roman legionnaire — that's for cavalry! And you, boy — you smell like a Greek sewer. Haven't you had a bath?"

"Vitellius," Daria warned, "Watch your words."

"I've been a little busy fighting gorgons," Percy said.

"Vitellius," Hazel interrupted, "we've got to get Percy's augury before he can join. Why don't you check on Frank? He's in the armory doing inventory. You know how much he values your help." Daria shot the girl an approving glance.

The ghost's furry purple eyebrows shot up. "Mars Almighty! They let the probatio check the armor? We'll be ruined!"

He stumbled off down the street, stopping every few feet to pick up his sword or rearrange his toga.

"O-h-h-kay," Percy said.

"Sorry," Hazel said. "He's eccentric, but he's one of the oldest Lares. Been around since the legion was founded."

"He called the legion... Fulminata?" Percy said.

'"Armed with Lightning,"' Daria translated. "That's our motto. The Twelfth Legion was around for the entire Roman Empire. When Rome fell, a lot of legions just disappeared. We went underground, acting on secret orders from Jupiter himself: stay alive, recruit demigods and their children, keep Rome going. We've been doing that ever since, moving around to wherever Roman influence was strongest. The last few centuries, we've been in America."

"And you're in the Fifth Cohort," he said to Hazel, "which maybe isn't the most popular?"

Hazel scowled. "Yeah. I joined up last September."

"So... just a few weeks before that guy Jason disappeared."

Daria looked away, towards the hills that surrounded the city. She was silent long enough to count every passing cloud.

"Come on," she said at last. "I'll show you my favorite view."

They stopped outside the main gates. The fort was situated on the highest point in the valley, so they could see pretty much everything. On days where everything was a little too stressful, Daria would come here and watch her city. She had been there a lot recently.

The road led down to the river and divided. One path led south across a bridge, up to the Temple Hill. The other road led north into the city, a miniature version of Ancient Rome. Unlike the military camp, the city looked chaotic and colorful, with buildings crowded together at haphazard angles. Even from this far away, Daria could see people gathered in the plaza, shoppers milling around an open-air market, parents with kids playing in the parks.

"You've got families here?" Percy asked.

"In the city, absolutely," Hazel said. "When you're accepted into the legion, you do ten years of service. After that, you can muster out whenever you want. Most demigods go into the mortal world. But for some — well, it's pretty dangerous out there. This valley is a sanctuary. You can go to college in the city, get married, have kids, retire when you get old. It's the only safe place on earth for people like us. So yeah, a lot of veterans make their homes there, under the protection of the legion."

"But if this valley is attacked?"

Daria pursed her lips. "We have defenses. The borders are magical. But our strength isn't what it used to be. Lately, the monster attacks have been increasing. What you said about the gorgons not dying... we've noticed that too, with other monsters."

"Do you know what's causing it?"

Hazel looked away. She knew she wasn't supposed to say anything, but Daria shot her a warning glance anyway. There was no sense in telling everyone that the Doors of Death weren't closed. Thus far, the only people who knew were Daria, Reyna, Hazel, and Hazel's brother, Nico Di Angelo.

"It's — it's complicated," she said. "My brother says Death isn't — " She was interrupted by an elephant.

Someone behind them shouted, "Make way!"

They stepped out of the way to let Hannibal pass, he thundered down the road and turned north, heading toward a big open field where some fortifications were under construction.

Percy spit dust out of his mouth. "What the — ?"

"Elephant," Hazel explained.

"Yeah, I read the sign. Why do you have an elephant in a bulletproof vest?"

"War games tonight," Hazel said. "That's Hannibal. If we didn't include him, he'd get upset."

"We can't have that."

Hazel laughed and Daria smiled. There was something about Percy Jackson that made his sense of humor infectious. It was weird thinking about him as a cousin, the closest thing she had to a relative at Camp Jupiter was Michael Kahale of her cohort, but she imagined that if she and Percy didn't manage to accidentally kill each other, they would be quite close.

Hazel pointed south across the river. Dark clouds were gathering over Temple Hill. Red flashes of lightning washed the monuments in blood- colored light.

"Octavian is busy," Hazel said. "We'd better get over there."

On the way, they passed some fauns. Daria rolled her eyes and kept her distance, walking ahead of their three-person group, she wasn't very fond of the annoying creatures.

"Hazel!" one of them cried. Daria didn't know their names.

He trotted over with a big grin on his face. He wore a faded Hawaiian shirt and nothing for pants except thick brown goat fur. His massive Afro jiggled. His eyes were hidden behind little round rainbow-tinted glasses. He held a cardboard sign that read : WILL WORK SING go away for denarii.

"Hi, Don," Hazel said. "Sorry, we don't have time — "

"Oh, that's cool! That's cool!" Don trotted along with them. "Hey, this guy's new!" He grinned at Percy. "Do you have three denarii for the bus? Because I left my wallet at home, and I've got to get to work, and — "

"Don," Hazel chided. "Fauns don't have wallets. Or jobs. Or homes. And we don't have buses."

"Right," he said cheerfully, "but do you have denarii?"

"Your name is Don the Faun?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. So?"

"Nothing." Daria saw Percy try to keep a straight face. "Why don't fauns have jobs? Shouldn't they work for the camp?"

Don bleated. "Fauns! Work for the camp! Hilarious!"

"Fauns are, urn, free spirits," Hazel explained. "They hang out here because, well, it's a safe place to hang out and beg. We tolerate them, but-"

"Oh, Hazel is awesome," Don said. "She's so nice! All the other campers are like, 'Go away, Don.' But she's like, 'Please go away, Don.' I love her!"

Don looked at the ground in front of them and gasped. "Score!"

He reached for something, but Hazel screamed, "Don, no!"

She pushed him out of the way and snatched up a small shiny object. Daria caught a glimpse of it before Hazel slipped it into her pocket. She could have sworn it was a diamond. It happened a lot around Hazel, and sure, she was suspicious, but she didn't ask questions. She figured it was none of her business.

"Come on, Hazel," Don complained. "I could've bought a year's worth of doughnuts with that!"

"Don, please," Hazel said. "Go away." She sounded shaken, like she'd just saved Don from a charging bulletproof elephant.

The faun sighed. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you. But I swear, it's like you're good luck. Every time you walk by — "

"Good-bye, Don," Daria said quickly. "Let's go guys."

Hazel started jogging. They had to sprint to catch up.

"What was that about?" Percy asked. "That diamond in the road — "

"Please," she said. "Don't ask."

They walked in an uneasy silence the rest of the way to Temple Hill. A crooked stone path led past a crazy assortment of tiny altars and massive domed vaults. Statues of gods always seemed to follow Daria with their eyes.

Hazel pointed out the Temple of Bellona. "Goddess of war," she said. "That's Reyna's mom." Then they passed a massive red crypt decorated with human skulls on iron spikes.

"Please tell me we're not going in there," Percy said.

Hazel shook her head. "That's the Temple of Mars Ultor."

"Mars ... Ares, the war god?"

"That's his Greek name," Daria said. "But, yeah, same guy. Ultor means 'the Avenger.' He's the second-most important god of Rome. People are scared of him, for good reason, but he's not that bad provided you're disciplined correctly."

Percy pointed toward the summit. Clouds swirled over the largest temple, a round pavilion with a ring of white columns supporting a domed roof.

"I'm guessing that's Zeus — uh, I mean, Jupiter's? That's where we're heading?"

"Yeah." Hazel sounded edgy. "Octavian reads auguries there — the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus."

Percy had to think about it, but the Latin words clicked into English. "Jupiter. . .the best and the greatest?"

"Right." Daria said, hoping her obvious sarcasm wouldn't get her blown up, "Super great."

"What's Neptune's title?" Percy asked. "The coolest and most awesome?"

"Urn, not quite." Hazel gestured to a small blue building the size of a toolshed. A cobweb-covered trident was nailed above the door.

Percy peeked inside. On a small altar sat a bowl with three dried-up, moldy apples. His demeanor was one of heavy dissapointment, Daria. "Popular place."

"I'm sorry, Perce," Hazel said. "It's just... Romans were always scared of the sea. They only used ships if they had to. Even in modern times, having a child of Neptune around has always been a bad omen. The last time one joined the legion . . .well, it was 1 906, when Camp Jupiter was located across the bay in San Francisco. There was this huge earthquake — "

"You're telling me a child of Neptune caused that?"

"It's possible," Daria toyed with the ring on her left finger. "Children of Neptune have all sorts of powers. Anyway..."

"Romans fear Neptune, but they don't love him much." He finished.

Percy stared at the cobwebs on the trident. He reached in his backpack and dug out a stale bagel. It wasn't much, but he set it on the altar.

"Hey...uh, Dad." It reminded her of conversations Jason would have when he thought no one could hear him. "If you can hear me, help me out, okay? Give me my memory back. Tell me — tell me what to do." His voice cracked. He probably hadn't meant to get emotional, but he was exhausted and scared, and he'd been lost for so long, he would've given anything for some guidance.

Hazel put her hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. You're here now. You're one of us." Above them, thunder rumbled. Red lightning lit up the hill.

"Octavian's almost done," Daria said. "Let's go."

Compared to Neptune's tool shed, Jupiter's temple was definitely optimus and maximus. The marble floor was etched with fancy mosaics and Latin inscriptions. Sixty feet above, the domed ceiling sparkled gold. The whole temple was open to the wind.

In the center stood a marble altar, where Octavian doing some ritual or another in front of a massive golden statue of the god himself: Jupiter the sky god, dressed in a silk XXXL purple toga, holding a lightning bolt.

"It doesn't look like that," Percy muttered.

"What?" Hazel asked.

"The master bolt," Percy said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I — " Percy frowned. "Nothing, I guess."

Octavian raised his hands. More red lightning flashed in the sky, shaking the temple. Then he put his hands down, and the rumbling stopped. The clouds turned from gray to white and broke apart.

A pretty impressive trick, considering the kid didn't look like much. He was tall and skinny, with straw-colored hair, oversized jeans, a baggy T-shirt, and a drooping toga. He looked like a scarecrow wearing a bed sheet.

"What's he doing?" Percy murmured.

"Being an idiot," Daria grumbled. She couldn't stand him.

The guy in the toga turned. He had a crooked smile and a slightly crazy look in his eyes, like he'd just been playing an intense video game. In one hand he held a knife. In the other hand was something like a dead animal. That didn't make him look any less crazy.

"Percy," Hazel said, "this is Octavian."

"The graecus" Octavian announced. "How interesting."

"Uh, hi," Percy said. "Are you killing small animals?"

Octavian looked at the fuzzy thing in his hand and laughed. "No, no. Once upon a time, yes. We used to read the will of the gods by examining animal guts — chickens, goats, that sort of thing. Nowadays, we use these."

He tossed the fuzzy thing to Percy. It was a disemboweled teddy bear. Much like the pile of mutilated stuffed animals at the foot of Jupiter's statue.

"Seriously?" Percy asked.

Octavian stepped off the dais. He was eighteen, but so skinny and sickly pale, he could've passed for younger. At a first glance he seemed harmless, but as you got closer, you could see his eyes glittered with harsh curiosity, like he might gut you just as easily as a teddy bear if he thought he could learn something from it.

Octavian narrowed his eyes. "You seem nervous."

"You remind me of someone," Percy said. "I can't remember who."

"Possibly my namesake, Octavian — Augustus Caesar. Everyone says I bear a remarkable resemblance."

"Why did you call me 'the Greek'?"

"I saw it in the auguries." Octavian waved his knife at the pile of stuffing on the altar. "The message said: The Greek has arrived. Or possibly: The goose has cried. I'm thinking the first interpretation is correct. You seek to join the legion?"

Hazel spoke for them. She told Octavian everything that had happened since they met at the tunnel — the gorgons, the fight at the river, the appearance of Juno, their conversation with Reyna.

When she mentioned Juno, Octavian looked surprised.

"Juno," he mused. "We call her Juno Moneta. Juno the Warner. She appears in times of crisis, to counsel Rome about great threats."

He glanced at Percy, as if to say: like mysterious Greeks, for instance.

"I hear the Feast of Fortuna is this week," Percy said. "The gorgons warned there'd be an invasion on that day. Did you see that in your stuffing?"

"Sadly, no." Octavian sighed. "The will of the gods is hard to discern. And these days, my vision is even darker."

"Don't you have... I don't know," Percy said, "an oracle or something?"

"An oracle!" Octavian smiled. "What a cute idea. No, I'm afraid we're fresh out of oracles. Now, if we'd gone questing for the Sibylline books, like I recommended — "

"The Siba-what?" Percy asked.

"Books of prophecy," Daria said, "which Octavian is obsessed with. Romans used to consult them when disasters happened. Most people believe they burned up when Rome fell."

"Some people believe that," Octavian corrected. "Unfortunately our present leadership won't authorize a quest to look for them — "

"Because Reyna isn't stupid," Daria commented.

" — so we have only a few remaining scraps from the books," Octavian continued. "A few mysterious predictions, like these."

He nodded to the inscriptions on the marble floor. Percy stared at the lines of words, and suddenly did a double-take.

"That one." He pointed, translating as he read aloud: "Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall — "

"Yes, yes." Octavian finished it without looking: "An oath to keep with a final breath, and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

"I — I know that one." His whole body was trembling. "That's important."

Octavian arched an eyebrow. "Of course it's important. We call it the Prophecy of Eight, but it's several thousand years old. We don't know what it means. Every time someone tries to interpret it... Well, Daria can tell you. Bad things happen."

Daria glared at him. "Just read the augury for Percy. Can he join the legion or not?"

She could almost see Octavian's mind working, calculating whether or not Percy would be useful. He held out his hand for Percy's backpack. "That's a beautiful specimen. May I?"

Percy, of course, didn't understand what he meant, but Octavian snatched the Bargain Mart panda pillow that was sticking out of the top of his pack. Octavian turned toward the altar and raised his knife.

"Hey!" Percy protested.

Octavian slashed open the panda's belly and poured its stuffing over the altar. He tossed the panda carcass aside, muttered a few words over the fluff, and turned with a big smile on his face.

"Good news!" he said. "Your cousin may join the legion. We'll assign him a cohort at evening muster. Tell Reyna that I approve."

Hazel's shoulders relaxed. "Uh... great. Come on, Percy."

"Oh, and Hazel," Octavian said. "I'm happy to welcome Percy into the legion. But when the election for praetor comes up, I hope you'll remember — "

"Jason isn't dead," Daria snapped. "You're the augur. You're supposed to be looking for him."

"And besides," Hazel glared, "Everyone knows that Daria will win the election, even if she isn't claimed, she's still much better than you!"

"Oh, I am looking for him!" Octavian pointed at the pile of gutted stuffed animals. "I consult the gods every day! Alas, after eight months, I've found nothing. Of course, I'm still looking. But if Jason doesn't return by the Feast of Fortuna, we must act. We can't have a power vacuum any longer. I hope you'll both support me for praetor. It would mean so much to me."

Daria clenched her fists. "Me. Support. You?"

Octavian took off his toga, setting it and his knife on the altar. There were seven lines on Octavian's arm — seven years of camp. Octavian's mark was a harp, the symbol of Apollo.

"After all," Octavian told Hazel, ignoring Daria, a bold move "I might be able to help you. It would be a shame if those awful rumors about you kept circulating... or, gods forbid, if they turned out to be true."

Daria noticed Percy slipping his hand into his pocket. Octavian was blackmailing Hazel. That was obvious. One sign from Hazel and he was probably ready to bust out his weapon and see how Octavian liked being at the other end of a blade.

"Shut up," growled Daria, "And look for my boyfriend you absolute sorry excuse-"

"Now, now," Octavian said. "No need to threaten your fellow centurion. By the way Hazel, your brother is here."

Hazel stiffened. "My brother? Why?"

Octavian shrugged. "Why does your brother do anything ? He's waiting for you at your father's shrine. Just... ah, don't invite him to stay too long. He has a disturbing effect on the others. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep searching for our poor lost friend, Jason. Nice to meet you, Percy."

Daria stormed out of the pavilion, and Percy and Hazel followed. Octavian was the only person in this place that managed to rile her up and he knew it.

"Go talk to your brother, and take Percy with you," she added, trying to keep her temper in check. Hopefully there wouldn't be another tragic earthquake that once caused a large piece of marble to fall on Octavian's head. "I need to talk to Reyna. I'll see you at evening muster, don't be late!"

"Of course not," Hazel assured her. "Come on Percy."

Daria felt Percy's sea green eyes on her. Studying her like they had been since he first arrived. A valiant effort, but it was in vain. The only way people found out things about Daria was if she told them, "Bye Daria."


	3. two

"So," Daria said to her friend, "how exactly do you know Percy Jackson?" The praetor stood next to her as Daria assembled her armor, they had about 15 minutes until she had to take roll.

"Long story," Reyna waved her hand. "It happened before I came here, and either way, I can't judge him for that. Now that he's here with no memory and all. Your strap came off," she added, moving behind her to adjust it for her.

"Sorry," Daria mumbled, fixing her helmet. This hadn't been the first mistake she had made this month, and not to brag, but it had been 6 years since Daria had made a mistake.

"You're still distracted," Reyna half-heartedly rolled her eyes. "Get it together."

"I'm trying," Daria snapped back. "It's kinda hard when coffee reminds me of him, and the trees remind me of him, and the principia, and the fucking armory." She covered her face with her hands, "Gods, I sound like a lovestruck teenager."

"He's your best friend," the older girl reminded Daria gently. "And he's been your best friend for like 12 years-"

"13," she mumbled.

"-Of course you miss him. I miss him too. But what happens later Dars? What happens if he's dead?"

"He's not dead."

Reyna sighed, "probably not. He's Jason Grace. He may be the biggest idiot in the Bay Area, but at least he's good with a sword." She shook her head, "you're so confident about him being alive...You're telling me that you're distracted because you just _miss him_?"

"He could be injured," Daria protested. "He could be- I don't know! What if he got transformed into a guinea pig?" Reyna smirked like they had just shared an inside joke, "what?"

"Nothing," there was still traces of humor in Reyna's eyes. "Let's go. Out of everyone in the legion, we can't afford to be late."

Daria had just finished calling roll when Hazel and her brother, Nico Di Angelo, came running up to join the Fifth Cohort. "Hazel Levesque," Reyna called from atop her Pegasus, "so glad you could join us."

Hazel knew better than to respond. She was missing most of her equipment, but she hurried to her place in line next to Frank and stood at attention. Their lead centurion, a big seventeen-year-old guy named Dakota, was just calling her name — the last one on the roll. So, technically, she wasn't late.

Nico joined Percy Jackson, who was standing off to one side with a couple of guards. Percy's hair was wet from the baths. He'd put on fresh clothes, but he still looked uncomfortable. Daria couldn't blame him. He was about to be introduced to two hundred heavily armed kids.

The Lares were the last ones to fall in. Their purple forms flickered as they jockeyed for places. They had an annoying habit of standing halfway inside living people, so that the ranks looked like a blurry photograph, but finally the centurions got them sorted out.

Daria scanned the crowd, making sure everyone was in line, shouting, "colors!"

The standard-bearers stepped forward. They wore lion-skincapes and held poles decorated with each cohort's emblems. The last to present his standard was Jacob, the legion's eagle bearer. He held a long pole with absolutely nothing on top. The job was supposed to be a big honor, but Jacob obviously hated it. Even though Reyna insisted on following tradition, every time the eagleless pole was raised, Daria could feel embarrassment rippling through the legion along with her own.

Reyna brought her pegasus to a halt.

"Romans!" she announced. "You've probably heard about the incursion today. Two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, Percy Jackson. Juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him a son of Neptune."

The kids in the back rows craned their necks to see Percy. He raised his hand and said, "Hi."

"He seeks to join the legion," Reyna continued. "What do the auguries say?" Daria glared at the 18-year old next to her, daring him to say anything bad.

"I have read the entrails!" Octavian announced, as if he'd killed a lion with his bare hands rather than ripping up a stuffed panda pillow. "The auguries are favorable. He is qualified to serve!"

The campers gave a shout: "Ave! Hail!"

Frank Zhang was a little late with his "ave," so it came out as a high-pitched echo. The other legionnaires snickered.

Reyna motioned the senior officers forward — one from each cohort, except from the First, from which both Octavian and Daria joined the group.

"Recruit," Octavian asked, "do you have credentials? Letters of reference?" A lot of kids brought letters from older demigods in the outside world, adults who were veterans of the camp. Some recruits had rich and famous sponsors. Some were third- or fourth-generation campers. A good letter could get you a position in the better cohorts, sometimes even special jobs like legion messenger, which made you exempt from the grunt work like digging ditches or conjugating Latin verbs.

Daria herself had only landed in the First Cohort because she grew up in New Rome. They had heard of her fighting skill. And unlike Jason who had been drawn to the Fifth, the home of the underdogs, she had been drawn to the power and glory of the First.

Percy shifted. "Letters? Urn, no."

Octavian wrinkled his nose. His family had been sending kids to camp for over a century. He loved reminding recruits that they were less important than he was.

"No letters," Octavian said regretfully. "Will any legionnaires stand for him?"

"I will!" Frank stepped forward. "He saved my life!"

Immediately there were shouts of protest from the other cohorts. Reyna raised her hand for quiet and glared at Frank.

"Frank Zhang," she said, "for the second time today, I remind you that you are on probatio. Your godly parent has not even claimed you yet. You're not eligible to stand for another camper until you've earned your first stripe." Frank looked like he might die of embarrassment.

Daria saw Hazel grimace before she stepped out of line and said, "what Frank means is that Percy saved both our lives. I am a full member of the legion. I will stand for Percy Jackson."

Frank glanced at her gratefully, but the other campers started to mutter. Hazel was barely eligible. She'd only gotten her stripe a few weeks ago, and the "act of valor" that earned it for her had been mostly an accident. Besides, she was a daughter of Pluto, and a member of the "disgraced" Fifth Cohort. She wasn't doing Percy much of a favor by giving him her support.

Reyna wrinkled her nose, but she turned to Daria and Octavian. The augur smiled and shrugged, like the idea amused him.

"It's where Jason started," Daria reminded them warningly. "And besides, what's the harm?"

"Very well," Reyna announced. "Hazel Levesque, you may stand for the recruit. Does your cohort accept him?"

The other cohorts started coughing, trying not to laugh. Daria knew what they were thinking: _Another loser for the Fifth. _

Frank pounded his shield against the ground. The other members of the Fifth followed his lead, though they didn't seem very excited. Their centurions, Dakota and Gwen, exchanged pained looks, like: Here we go again.

"My cohort has spoken," Dakota said. "We accept the recruit."

Reyna looked at Percy with pity. "Congratulations, Percy Jackson. You stand on probatio. You will be given a tablet with your name and cohort. In a year's time, or as soon as you complete an act of valor, you will become a full member of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. Serve Rome, obey the rules of the legion, and defend the camp with honor. _Senatus Populusque Romanus._'"

The rest of the legion echoed the cheer.

Reyna wheeled her pegasus away from Percy, like she was glad to be done with him. Skippy spread his beautiful wings. Daria wasn't a very big fan of Pegasi, she hated traveling through the sky. This, however, just encouraged her boyfriend to quickly lift her into the air whenever he had the chance. Asshole.

"Centurions," Reyna said, "you and your troops have one hour for dinner. Then we will meet on the Field of Mars. The First and Second Cohorts will defend. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth will attack. Good fortune!"

A bigger cheer went up — for the war games and for dinner. The cohorts broke ranks and ran for the mess hall.

As usual, or at least for the past few months, Daria sat in between Reyna and Michael, with Octavian across from them chatting with his friends (read: stooges).

"Man who is that kid?" Michael shook his head, "I've never seen anyone control the _Tiberus_ like that. Think we should be scared for the games tonight?"

Before Daria could reply, Octavian interrupted, "of course not. We're the First, the best and the brightest." He scoffed, "why would we be scared of a bunch of cowards?"

Daria shared a glance with Reyna, _oh good, they were on the same page for tonight_. "Yeah Octavian," Daria said dryly, "I'm sure a Son of Neptune is terrified of you."

Octavian stuttered back a reply but she didn't listen. Behind him, towards the back of the Dining Hall where the Fifth Cohort sat, Nico Di Angelo was trying to get her attention. He jerked his head towards the principia and got up, not waiting for her to follow him.

She stood up as well, "I'll meet you guys on the Field," she promised, and swiftly made her way over to the enigma that was Nico Di Angelo.

He was dressed in all black as usual, his Stygian Iron sword hanging off his belt. He would have looked threatening, even scary, if he wasn't so thin. There were constant bags under his eyes, as if he never slept, which Daria wouldn't put past him.

"Daria," his voice was wary, as if her name was an ancient taboo. "We need to talk."

She raised her eyebrows, "we are talking."

He shook his head, "Percy Jackson...his future is entangled in yours. Can't you see that?"

"What are you talking about?" She narrowed her eyes, "do you know him?"

"He's your cousin," he admitted. "I don't know. But you two need to get close, and fast, it's life and death."

"I-Why are you telling me this?"

His eyes went from black to something much darker, "there's a prophecy coming Daria, you two need to keep each other alive. The Doors of Death..." he cut himself off. "Just be careful, watch out for the others, they'll need you."

"Well what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna find the Doors of Death," he said carefully, searching her face for a reaction. "And I'm going to close them."

"That's way too dangerous." She was shocked, as powerful as Nico was, he stood no chance. "You'll get yourself killed."

He glared at her, "I'll be fine," he spat. "Just go to your stupid war game."

Something told her that they both knew he was lying.

"Right," Octavian raised his voice to be heard over the chatter of the First and Second Cohort. "We're defending. Obviously. Do whatever, just make sure we win. It shouldn't be that hard."

"Great pep talk as usual," Michael muttered beside Daria. He grinned at her, "wanna protect the flag with me?"

She tapped her rings together, instinctively grabbing the swords out of the air, "like you have to ask."

The center of their base was virtually undefended. The attacking cohorts never got that far. So it was just her and Michael protecting the banner of the First. Truthfully, they were just chatting among themselves, ever since Jason had left the Fifth, there was nothing to worry about during War Games.

"Did you know that Jess is gay?" Michael asked her, "she has like this thing with Lydia, I don't know."

"Jess, the one you were crushing on?" Daria smirked when he nodded, "hey, at least one of you has a girlfriend."

He shoved her, pouting, and was about to respond when they both heard the boom of the water cannons exploding.

"Shit!" Michael cursed. He drew out his sword, four feet of Imperial Gold, "it's that new kid, I'm telling you." He laughed, excitement in his eyes when he glanced at her. "What is with Jacksons and kicking ass?"

At that moment, the whirlwind that was Percy Jackson and his friends rushed towards the two of them. Hazel was riding on-was that Hannibal? Frank was shooting with the accuracy of Apollo himself. And Percy... well Percy was destroying everything in his path.

"Nice swordsmanship," she commented as Imperial Gold clashed against Celestial Bronze. "But you fight like a Greek."

"That sucks," he taunted back, "because it seems like no one in your Cohort is able to keep up."

Daria had the upper hand, she had been fighting for two minutes whereas he had been fighting for twenty, and just like she wasn't used to his fighting style, he wasn't very used to hers. She was the only one at camp who used twin swords, one for attacking, one for defending. And the reason she was the only one was- it was hard work. It had taken her six years of training to be proficient and balanced, for the weight of two swords to not weigh her down. But now that she was practiced, she was deadly.

Yet, Octavian's words echoed in her head. _A bunch of cowards_, he had called the Fifth. In truth, Octavian was the most cowardly person she knew. She lunged with her right hand, at a spot that she knew was well protected by Percy's sword.

Just as expected, he blocked it, twisting her sword so that it clattered out of her hand. Now that she only had one sword, he had no problem unbalancing her so that she landed flat on the ground, claiming the banner for the Fifth. Percy climbed on Hannibal's back, and just as fast as they had arrived, they were gone.

Daria heard Reyna's voice a few seconds later, she sounded like she was trying not to laugh, "the game is won! Assemble for honors!"

Michael helped her to her feet. He had been overwhelmed by the giant force that was Hannibal, "you threw that fight," he accused her.

In spite of herself, she smiled, even though they had lost, laughter was coursing through her body. "Yeah," she confirmed, "I can't wait to see the look on Octavian's face."

Michael rolled his eyes, chuckling along with her, "you're crazy." They assembled along with the First Cohort, giggling at the shocked look on Octavian's face. Reyna gave her one look and smirked: Mission embarrass Octavian accomplished.

"Help!" somebody yelled behind them. Daria whirled around to see a couple of campers rushed out of the fortress, carrying a girl on a stretcher. They set her down, and other kids

started running over. She pushed through the crowd, Reyna's pegasus trotting alongside her. Daria inhaled sharply when she made out who it was. Gwen.

She was in bad shape. She lay on her side on the stretcher with a pilum sticking out of her armor — almost like she was holding it between her chest and her arm, but there was too much blood.

The medics barked at everyone to stand back and give her air, leaving Reyna and Daria at her side, with Percy, Frank, and Hazel breathing down her neck.. The whole legion fell silent as the healers worked — trying to get gauze and powdered unicorn horn under Gwen's armor to stop the bleeding, trying to force some nectar into her mouth. Gwen didn't move. Her face was ashen gray.

Finally one of the medics looked up at Reyna and shook his head.

For a moment, there was no sound except water from the ruined cannons trickling down the walls of the fort. Hannibal nuzzled Gwen's hair with his trunk.

Reyna surveyed the campers from her pegasus. Her expression was as hard and dark as iron. "There will be an investigation. Whoever did this, you cost the legion a good officer. Honorable death is one thing, but this ... "

Daria wasn't sure what she meant. Then she noticed the marks engraved in the wooden shaft of the pilum CHT l LEGIO Xll F. The weapon belonged to the First Cohort, and the point was sticking out the front of her armor. Gwen had been speared from behind — possibly after the game had ended.

Daria scanned her Cohort for Octavian. The centurion was watching with more interest than concern, as if he were examining one of his stupid gutted teddy bears. He didn't have a pilum. It had been him, she was sure of it, and Reyna knew it too. A surge of anger coursed through her. She wanted to strangle Octavian with his bare hands, but at that moment, Gwen gasped.

Everyone stepped back. Gwen opened her eyes. The color came back to her face.

"Wh-what is it?" She blinked. "What's everyone staring at?" She didn't seem to notice the seven-foot harpoon sticking out through her chest.

In front of Daria, a medic whispered, "there's no way. She was dead. She has to be dead."

Gwen tried to sit up, but couldn't. "There was a river, and a man asking... for a coin? I turned around and the exit door was open. So I just... I just left. I don't understand. What's happened?"

Daria made eye contact with Nico in horror. Nobody tried to help.

"Gwen." Frank knelt next to her. "Don't try to get up. Just close your eyes for a second, okay?"

"Why? What—"

"Just trust me." Gwen did what he asked.

Frank grabbed the shaft of the pilum below its tip, but his hands were shaking. The wood was slick. "Percy, Hazel — help me."

One of the medics realized what he was planning. "Don't!" he said. "You might — "

"What?" Hazel snapped. "Make it worse?"

Frank took a deep breath. "Hold her steady. One, two, three!"

He pulled the pilum out from the front. Gwen didn't even wince. The blood stopped quickly.

Hazel bent down to examine the wound. "It's closing on its own," she said. "I don't know how, but — "

"I feel fine," Gwen protested. "What's everyone worried about?"

Daria noticed Frank still glaring at Octavian, she would deal with that later. "Gwen," Daria said gently, "there's no easy way to say this. You were dead. Somehow you came back."

"I what?" She stumbled against Frank. Her hand pressed against the ragged hole in her armor. "How — how?"

"Good question." Reyna turned to Nico, who was watching grimly from the edge of the crowd. "Is this some power of Pluto?"

Nico shook his head. "Pluto never lets people return from the dead."

He glanced at Hazel as if warning her to stay quiet. Daria exchanged a glance with Reyna, she let out a shaky breath in return. The praetor definitely knew what they were dealing with.

A thunderous voice rolled across the field: _Death loses its hold. This is only the beginning. _

Campers drew weapons. Hannibal trumpeted nervously. Scipio reared, almost throwing Reyna.

"I know that voice," Percy said. He didn't sound pleased.

"Yeah," Daria replied. "It's Mars." She turned to the legion, "stand down!"

They obeyed her, although warily. Reyna shook her head at Daria: _I hope you know what you're talking about_.

In the midst of the legion, a column of fire blasted into the air. Heat seared Daria's eyelashes. Campers who had been soaked by the cannons found their clothes instantly steam-dried. Everyone scrambled backward as a huge soldier stepped out of the explosion.

The soldier was ten feet tall, dressed in Canadian Forces desert camouflage. He radiated confidence and power. His black hair was cut in a flat-topped wedge like Frank's. His face was angular and brutal, marked with old knife scars. His eyes were covered with infrared goggles that glowed from inside. He wore a utility belt with a sidearm, a knife holster, and several grenades. In his hands was an oversized Ml 6 rifle. As everyone else stepped back, Frank Zhang stepped forward, like the soldier was compelling him to approach. He took three more steps. Then he sank to one knee.

The other campers followed his example and knelt. Even Daria shakily knelt this time..

"That's good," the soldier said. "Kneeling is good. It's been a long time since I've visited Camp Jupiter."

Daria noticed that one person wasn't kneeling. Percy Jackson, his sword still in hand, was glaring at the giant soldier.

"You're Ares," Percy said. "What do you want?"

A collective gasp went up from two hundred campers and an elephant. Daria wanted to cover her face with her hands. Juno was one thing, but Mars? He was going to stand up to Mars? He was dead, her new cousin was absolutely, 100% dead.

Instead, the god bared his brilliant white teeth.

"You've got spunk, demigod," he said. "Ares is my Greek form. But to these followers, to the children of Rome, I am Mars — patron of the empire, divine father of Romulus and Remus."

"We've met," Percy said. "We... we had a fight..."

The god scratched his chin, as if trying to recall. "I fight a lot of people. But I assure you — you've never fought me as Mars. If you had, you'd be dead. Now, kneel, as befits a child of Rome, before you try my patience."

Around Mars's feet, the ground boiled in a circle of flame.

"Percy," Daria said through gritted teeth, "kneel."

Percy clearly didn't like it, but he knelt.

Mars scanned the crowd. "Romans, lend me your ears!" He laughed — a good, hearty bellow, so infectious it almost made a couple people smile, though they was still shivering with fear. "I've always wanted to say that. I come from Olympus with a message. Jupiter doesn't like us communicating directly with mortals, especially nowadays, but he has allowed this exception, as you Romans have always been my special people. I'm only permitted to speak for a few minutes, so listen up."

He pointed at Gwen. "This one should be dead, yet she's not. The monsters you fight no longer return to Tartarus when they are slain. Some mortals who died long ago are now walking the earth again."

Was it Daria's imagination, or did the god glare at Nico di Angelo?

"Thanatos has been chained," Mars announced. "The Doors of Death have been forced open, and no one is policing them — at least, not impartially. Gaea allows our enemies to pour forth into the world of mortals. Her sons the giants are mustering armies against you — armies that you will not be able to kill. Unless Death is unleashed to return to his duties, you will be overrun. You must find Thanatos and free him from the giants. Only he can reverse the tide."

Mars looked around, and noticed that everyone was still silently kneeling. "Oh, you can get up now. Any questions?"

Reyna rose uneasily. She approached the god, followed by Daria and Octavian, who was bowing and scraping like a champion groveler.

"Lord Mars," Reyna said, "we are honored."

"Beyond honored," said Octavian. "So far beyond honored — " Surprisingly, only Daria had ADHD. Octavian was just an idiot.

"Well?" Mars snapped.

"Well," Reyna said, "Thanatos is the god of death, the lieutenant of Pluto?"

"Right," the god said.

"And you're saying that he's been captured by giants."

"Right."

"And therefore people will stop dying?"

"Not all at once," Mars said. "But the barriers between life and death will continue to weaken. Those who know how to take advantage of this will exploit it. Monsters are already harder to dispatch. Soon they will be completely impossible to kill. Some demigods will also be able to find their way back from the Underworld — like your friend Centurion Shish kebab."

Gwen winced. "Centurion Shish kebab?"

"If left unchecked," Mars continued, "even mortals will eventually find it impossible to die. Can you imagine a world in which no one dies — ever?"

Octavian raised his hand. "But, ah, mighty all-powerful Lord Mars, if we can't die, isn't that a good thing? If we can stay alive indefinitely — "

"Don't be foolish, boy!" Mars bellowed. "Endless slaughter with no conclusion? Carnage without any point? Enemies that rise again and again and can never be killed? Is that what you want?"

"You're the god of war," Percy spoke up. "Don't you want endless carnage?"

Mars's infrared goggles glowed brighter. "Insolent, aren't you? Perhaps I have fought you before. I can understand why I'd want to kill you. I'm the god of Rome, child. I am the god of military, might used for a righteous cause. I protect the legions. I am happy to crush my enemies underfoot, but I don't fight without reason. I don't want war without end. You will discover this. You will serve me."

"Not likely," Percy said.

Again, Daria waited for the god to strike him down, but Mars just grinned like they were two old buddies talking trash.

"I order a quest!" the god announced. "You will go north and find Thanatos in the land beyond the gods. You will free him and thwart the plans of the giants. Beware Gaea! Beware her son, the eldest giant!"

Next to Frank, Hazel made a squeaking sound. "The land beyond the gods?"

Mars stared down at her, his grip tightening on his M16. "That's right, Hazel Levesque. You know what I mean. Everyone here remembers the land where the legion lost its honor! Perhaps if the quest succeeds, and you return by the Feast of Fortuna... perhaps then your honor will be restored. If you don't succeed, there won't be any camp left to return to. Rome will be overrun, its legacy lost forever. So my advice is: Don't fail."

Octavian somehow managed to bow even lower. "Urn, Lord Mars, just one tiny thing. A quest requires a prophecy, a mystical poem to guide us! We used to get them from the Sibylline books, but now it's up to the augur to glean the will of gods. So if I could just run and get about seventy stuffed animals and possibly a knife — "

"You're the augur?" the god interrupted.

"Y-yes, my lord."

Mars pulled a scroll from his utility belt. "Anyone got a pen?"

The legionnaires stared at him.

Mars sighed. "Two hundred Romans, and no one's got a pen? Never mind!"

He slung his Ml 6 onto his back and pulled out a hand grenade. There were many screaming Romans. Then the grenade morphed into a ballpoint pen, and Mars began to write.

"There!" Mars finished writing and threw the scroll at Octavian. "A prophecy. You can add it to your books, engrave it on your floor, whatever."

Octavian read the scroll. "This says, 'Go to Alaska. Find Thanatos and free him. Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die.'" Finally, a prophecy that Daria could understand. Much better than Charleston.

"Yes," Mars said. "Is that not clear?"

"Well, my lord... usually prophecies are unclear. They're wrapped in riddles. They rhyme, and..."

Mars casually popped another grenade off his belt. "Yes?"

"The prophecy is clear!" Octavian announced. "A quest!"

"Good answer." Mars tapped the grenade to his chin. "Now, what else? There was something else. ...Oh, yes."

He turned to Frank. "C'mere, kid."

Daria knew what was coming, and apparently, so did Frank. He stepped forward like he was being dragged through Jello.

Mars grinned. "Nice job taking the wall, kid. Who's the ref for this game?"

Reyna raised her hand.

"You see that play, ref?" Mars demanded. "That was my kid. First over the wall, won the game for his team. Unless you're blind, that was an MVP play. You're not blind, are you?"

Reyna looked like she was trying to swallow a mouse. "No, Lord Mars."

"Then make sure he gets the Mural Crown," Mars demanded. "My kid, here!" he yelled at the legion, in case anyone hadn't heard. "Emily Zhang's son," Mars continued. "She was a good soldier. Good woman. This kid Frank proved his stuff tonight. Happy late birthday, kid. Time you stepped up to a real man's weapon."

He tossed Frank his Ml 6. For a split second Daria thought he'd be crushed under the weight of the massive assault rifle, but the gun changed in midair, becoming smaller and thinner. When Frank caught it, the weapon was a spear. It had a shaft of Imperial gold and a strange point like a white bone, flickering with ghostly light.

"The tip is a dragon's tooth," Mars said. "You haven't learned to use your mom's talents yet, have you? Well — that spear will give you some breathing room until you do. You get three charges out of it, so use it wisely."

With a glance it was clear that Frank didn't understand, but Mars acted like the matter was closed. "Now, my kid Frank Zhang is gonna lead the quest to free Thanatos, unless there are any objections?" Of course, no one said a word. But many of the campers glared at Frank with envy, jealousy, anger, bitterness.

"The rules are that you can pick two," Mars said. "Usually. But this quest needs four people. One of them needs to be this kid."

He pointed at Percy. "He's gonna learn some respect for Mars on this trip, or die trying. As for the others, I don't care. Pick whomever you want. Have one of your senate debates. You all are good at those."

The god's image flickered. Lightning crackled across the sky.

"That's my cue," Mars said. "Until next time, Romans. Do not disappoint me!"

The god erupted in flames, and then he was gone.

Reyna turned toward Frank. Her expression was part amazement, part nausea, like she'd finally managed to swallow that mouse. She raised her arm in a Roman salute. "Ave, Frank Zhang, son of Mars."

The whole legion followed her lead, but Frank had been handed more than a spear for his birthday. He'd been handed a death sentence.


	4. three

Daria wouldn't be considered a demigod if she didn't have dreams that made her want to pull her hair out. This one was reoccurring. It had been ever since her visit to Olympus.

_Jason was lying in front of her, blood soaking through his purple shirt. He was struggling, gasping for breath and Daria saw the fear in his eyes. He gripped her hand so tight that the skin around his fingers turned white._

"_I'm dying," he managed to gasp out. "And it's your fault. You could have stopped this. You knew-" he coughed._

"_No!" She shook her head in a wild panic. "You told me you didn't want to know! You told me-"_

"_No I didn't," he hissed back. "You went to Olympus. You were the only one," he choked. "They told you everything. This is your fault." His usually close-cut blond hair was matted to his face, and the fear in his sky blue eyes had turned into fury, "I hate you," he spat out._

_Tears were rolling down her face now, "you don't," she whimpered. And even in her dream state she could hear how fake it all was. "You would never hate me. Jason...I know you."_

"_Do you really?" Another voice entered her dream and Jason's body slowly faded out of sight until Daria was by herself. "Do you even know yourself my dear?" _

_The scene changed. Now, Daria was standing in a forest. It was beautiful, lush green trees as far as her eyes could see. Animals calling out to each other. The roaring of a distant waterfall. It was breathtaking...and very familiar._

"_How many times do I have to ask?" She turned to the lady in the white veil. Tears were still pricking at her eyes from her last vision. "Who are you?"_

"_All in good time my child," the voice was calming, soothing even. "You are so powerful my daughter, you will know what I mean soon." She didn't turn around._

"_Tell me this at least," Daria pleaded. "Is Neptune my father or is Percy just a cousin?" His arrival had shaken her up more than she wanted to admit._

"_You will see," the woman's voice was gradually growing softer but Daria could hear her laugh quietly to herself. "It is time for you to awake dear."_

"Get up!" The voice that woke her was much angrier than her dream. "We're going to be late for the Senate meeting!"

Michael Kahale was shaking Daria furiously. He was dressed in his toga, a white colored cloth that shone in the sunlight. Tapping his foot impatiently, he started pulling all of Daria's things off of the shelves and handed them to her.

"Your glasses." She stumbled out of bed and put them on, stealing a glance at the clock. They had about 30 minutes, so they would miss breakfast, big deal. With a grumble in her friend's direction (he wasn't even allowed to be in here!) she trudged into the bathroom.

"Toga." He said, tossing it to her. Catching it, she spat out her toothpaste.

"Should I maybe change out of my pajamas too?" She said innocently, "you know, just a suggestion since you're so eager to be throwing my shit all over the room."

"I just-"

She rolled her eyes, cutting him off. "Get out," and hoping for once that he would do as she asked, she shut the bathroom door.

She had about 30 seconds to spare as she slid into the seat beside Hazel Levesque, Michael to her right.

"What's up guys?" She shot the newly claimed Frank Zhang a smile, "How's that whole Mars thing going?"

Frank, who clearly wasn't expecting Daria to make conversation with him, looked like it couldn't possibly be going worse. "I uh-"

Percy peered at her, "Demigods need glasses?"

"Hey buddy, listen up-"

"Right, this is an emergency meeting," Reyna started from the podium. "We won't stand on formalities."

"I love formalities!" a ghost complained. Reyna shot him a cross look.

"First of all," she said, "we're not here to vote on the quest itself. The quest has been issued by Mars Ultor, patron of Rome. We will obey his wishes. Nor are we here to debate the choice of Frank Zhang's companions."

"Three from the Fifth Cohort?" called out Hank from the Third. "That's not fair."

"And not smart," said the boy next to him. "We know the Fifth will mess up. They should take somebody good."

Dakota got up so fast, he spilled Kool-Aid from his flask. "We were plenty good last night when we whipped your _podex_, Larry!"

"Enough, Dakota," Reyna said. "Let's leave Larry's _podex _out of this. As quest leader, Frank has the right to choose his companions. He has chosen Percy Jackson and Hazel Levesque thus far. But according to the rules, there must be at least one centurion on this quest," Reyna's eyes were trained on Daria. "Preferably someone with experience."

_Gee, I wonder who she could be referring to_. She raised her hand tentatively, until everyone had stopped bickering to look at her, "I can go." Hazel shot her a look of surprise, and Frank's eyes couldn't possibly grow any wider.

Everyone looked at each other before chaos broke out again, "Silence!" Reyna commanded. "Daria is a full-fledged centurion," she spoke slowly as if the thought had never crossed her mind. "Very well, if Frank is okay with it, you can go."

"I uh-"

"What Frank means to say is yes." Percy Jackson elbowed his friend, shooting a quick glance at Daria, "Daria should come with us."

A ghost from the second row yelled, "This entire thing is _absurdus_! Even if Daria Jackson goes on the quest. Frank Zhang isn't even a full member of the legion! He's on probatio. A quest must be _led _by someone of centurion rank or higher. This is completely — "

"Cato," Reyna snapped. "We must obey the wishes of Mars Ultor. That means certain ... adjustments."

Reyna clapped her hands, and Octavian came forward. He set down his knife and Beanie Baby and took the velvet package from the chair. "Frank Zhang," he said, "come forward."

Frank glanced nervously at all three of them. Then he got to his feet and approached the augur.

"It is my... pleasure," Octavian said, forcing out the last word, "to bestow upon you the Mural Crown for being first over the walls in siege warfare." Octavian handed him a bronze badge shaped like a laurel wreath. "Also, by order of Praetor Reyna, to promote you to the rank of centurion."

He handed Frank another badge, a bronze crescent, and the senate exploded in protest.

"He's still a probie!" one yelled.

"Impossible!" said another.

"Water cannon up my nose!" yelled a third.

"Silence!" Octavian's voice sounded a lot more commanding than it had the previous night on the battlefield. "Our praetor recognizes that no one below the rank of centurion may lead a quest. For good or ill, Frank must lead this quest — so our praetor has decreed that Frank Zhang must be made centurion."

Daria exchanged a bitter glance with Reyna. Octavian sounded reasonable and supportive, but his expression was pained. He carefully crafted his words to put all the responsibility on Reyna. _This was her idea_, he seemed to say.

_If it went wrong, Reyna was to blame. If only Octavian had been the one in charge, things would have been done more sensibly. But alas, he had no choice but to support Reyna, because Octavian was a loyal Roman soldier. _

Octavian managed to convey all that without saying it, simultaneously calming the senate and sympathizing with them. For yet another time, Daria knew this scrawny, funny-looking scarecrow of a kid would be a dangerous enemy.

"There is an opening for centurion," Reyna said. "One of our officers, also a senator, has decided to step down. After ten years in the legion, she will retire to the city and attend college. Gwen of the Fifth Cohort, we thank you for your service."

Everyone turned to Gwen, who managed a brave smile. She looked tired from the previous night's ordeal, but also relieved. Daria couldn't blame her. Compared to getting skewered with a pilum, college sounded pretty good.

"As praetor," Reyna continued, "I have the right to replace officers. I admit it's unusual for a camper on probatio to rise directly to the rank of centurion, but I think we can agree... last night was unusual. Frank Zhang, your ID, please."

Frank removed the lead tablet from around his neck and handed it to Octavian.

"Your arm," Octavian said.

Frank held up his forearm. Octavian raised his hands to the heavens. "We accept Frank Zhang, Son of Mars, to the Twelfth Legion Fulminata for his first year of service. Do you pledge your life to the senate and people of Rome?"

Frank muttered something like "Ud-dud." Then he cleared his throat and managed: "I do."

All the senators shouted, "Senatus Populusque Romanus!"

Fire blazed on Frank's arm. For a moment his eyes filled with terror, and Daria was afraid he might pass out. Then the smoke and flame died, and new marks were seared onto Frank's skin: SPQR, an image of crossed spears, and a single stripe, representing the first year of service.

"You may sit down." Octavian glanced at the audience as if to say: This wasn't my idea, folks.

"Now," Reyna said, "we must discuss the quest." The senators shifted and muttered as Frank returned to his seat.

"Did it hurt?" She heard Percy whisper.

Frank looked at his forearm, which was still steaming. "Yeah. A lot." He seemed mystified by the badges in his hand — the centurion's mark and the Mural Crown — like he wasn't sure what to do with them.

"Here." Hazel's eyes shone with pride. "Let me."

She pinned the medals to Frank's shirt.

Percy smiled. And even though the First had gotten their asses handed to them, Daria felt something like pride too. "You deserve it, man," he said. "What you did last night? Natural leadership."

Frank scowled. "But centurion — "

"Centurion Zhang," called Octavian. "Did you hear the question?"

Frank blinked. "Urn... sorry. What?"

Octavian turned to the senate and smirked, like What did I tell you?

"I was asking," Octavian said like he was talking to a three-year-old, "if you have a plan for the quest. Do you even know where you are going?"

"Urn..."

Daria stood. "Weren't you listening last night, Octavian? Mars was pretty clear. We're going to the land beyond the gods — Alaska."

The senators squirmed in their togas. Some of the ghosts shimmered and disappeared. Even Reyna's metal dogs rolled over on their backs and whimpered.

Finally Senator Larry stood. "I know what Mars said, but that's crazy. Alaska is cursed! They call it the land beyond the gods for a reason. It's so far north, the Roman gods have no power there. The place is swarming with monsters. No demigod has come back from there alive since — "

"Since you lost your eagle," Percy said and suddenly he was standing as well.

Larry was so startled, he fell back on his podex.

"Look," Percy continued, "I know I'm new here. I know you guys don't like to mention that massacre in the nineteen-eighties — "

"He mentioned it!" one of the ghosts whimpered.

" — But don't you get it?" Percy continued. "The Fifth Cohort led that expedition. We failed, and we have to be responsible for making things right. That's why Mars is sending us. This giant, the son of Gaea — he's the one who defeated your forces thirty years ago. I'm sure of it. Now he's sitting up there in Alaska with a chained death god, and all your old equipment. He's mustering his armies and sending them south to attack this camp."

"Really?" Octavian said. "You seem to know a lot about our enemy's plans, Percy Jackson."

Daria hoped Percy realized that Octavian was baiting him. The augur wanted to make their little group seem as unstable as possible, and suddenly, Daria felt a sense of protectiveness wash over her.

"That's an absurd idea and you know it Octavian," she pointed out. "You're just wasting valuable time, so either ask a straight forward question or let's move on." Octavian glared at her.

Percy took a deep breath beside Daria, seemingly trying to steady himself. "We're going to confront this son of Gaea," he said, managing to keep his composure. "We'll get back your eagle and unchain this god..." He glanced at Hazel. "Thanatos, right?"

She nodded. "Letus, in Roman. But his old Greek name is Thanatos. When it comes to Death... we're happy to let him stay Greek."

Octavian sighed in exasperation. "Well, whatever you call him. . .how do you expect to do all this and get back by the Feast of Fortuna? That's the evening of the twenty-fourth. It's the twentieth now. Do you even know where to look? Do you even know who this son of Gaea is?"

"Yes." Hazel spoke with such certainty that even Daria was surprised. "I don't know exactly where to look, but I have a pretty good idea. The giant's name is Alcyoneus."

That name seemed to lower the temperature in the room by fifty degrees. The senators shivered.

Reyna gripped her podium. "How do you know this, Hazel? Because you're a child of Pluto?"

Nico di Angelo had been so quiet, Daria had almost forgotten he was there. Now he stood in his black toga.

"Praetor, if I may," he said. "Hazel and I..we learned a little about the giants from our father. Each giant was bred specifically to oppose one of the twelve Olympian gods — to usurp that god's domain. The king of giants was Porphyrion, the anti-Jupiter. But the eldest giant was Alcyoneus. He was born to oppose Pluto. That's why we know of him in particular."

Reyna frowned. "Indeed? You sound quite familiar with him."

Nico picked at the edge of his toga. "Anyway... the giants were hard to kill. According to prophecy, they could only be defeated by gods and demigods working together."

Dakota belched. "Sorry, did you say gods and demigods... like fighting side by side? That could never happen!"

"It has happened," Nico said. "In the first giant war, the gods called on heroes to join them, and they were victorious. Whether it could happen again, I don't know. But with Alcyoneus ... he was different. He was completely immortal, impossible to kill by god or demigod, as long as he remained in his home territory — the place where he was born."

Nico paused to let that sink in. "And if Alcyoneus has been reborn in Alaska — "

"Then he can't be defeated there," Hazel finished. "Ever. By any means. Which is why our nineteen-eighties expedition was doomed to fail."

Another round of arguing and shouting broke out.

"The quest is impossible!" shouted a senator.

"We're doomed!" cried a ghost.

"More Kool-Aid!" yelled Dakota.

"Silence!" Reyna called. "Senators, we must act like Romans. Mars has given us this quest, and we have to believe it is possible. These four demigods must travel to Alaska. They must free Thanatos and return before the Feast of Fortuna. If they can retrieve the lost eagle in the process, so much the better. All we can do is advise them and make sure they have a plan."

Reyna looked at them without much hope. "You do have a plan?"

_No we don't!_

Percy stepped forward, carefully avoiding the question, "First, I need to understand something." He turned toward Nico. "I thought Pluto was the god of the dead. Now I hear about this other guy, Thanatos, and the Doors of Death from that prophecy — the Prophecy of Seven. What does all that mean?"

Nico took a deep breath. "Okay. Pluto is the god of the Underworld, but the actual god of death, the one who's responsible for making sure souls go to the afterlife and stay there — that's Pluto's lieutenant, Thanatos. He's like... well, imagine Life and Death are two different countries. Everybody would like to be in Life, right? So there's a guarded border to keep people from crossing back over without permission. But it's a big border, with lots of holes in the fence. Pluto tries to seal up the breaches, but new ones keep popping up all the time. That's why he depends on Thanatos, who's like the border patrol, the police."

"Thanatos catches souls," Percy said, "and deports them back to the Underworld."

"Exactly," Nico said. "But now Thanatos has been captured, chained up."

Frank raised his hand. "Uh...how do you chain Death?"

"It's been done before," Daria said. "In the old days, a guy named Sisyphus tricked Death and tied him up. Another time, Hercules wrestled him to the ground."

"And now a giant has captured him," Percy said. "So if we could free Thanatos, then the dead would stay dead?" He glanced at Gwen. "Urn... no offense."

"It's more complicated than that," Nico said.

Octavian rolled his eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"You mean the Doors of Death," Reyna said, ignoring Octavian. "They are mentioned in the Prophecy of Eight, which sent the first expedition to Alaska — "

Cato the ghost snorted. "We all know how that turned out! We Lares remember!"

The other ghosts grumbled in agreement.

Nico put his finger to his lips. Suddenly all the Lares went silent. Some looked alarmed, like their mouths had been glued together. Daria wished she had that power over certain living people... like Octavian, for instance.

"Thanatos is only part of the solution," Nico explained. "The Doors of Death... well, that's a concept even I don't completely understand." And yet he was going to find them.

"There are many ways into the Underworld — the River Styx, the Door of Orpheus — plus smaller escape routes that open up from time to time. With Thanatos imprisoned, all those exits will be easier to use. Sometimes it might work to our advantage and let a friendly soul come back — like Gwen here. More often, it will benefit evil souls and monsters, the sneaky ones who are looking to escape. Now, the Doors of Death — those are the personal doors of Thanatos, his fast lane between Life and Death. Only Thanatos is supposed to know where they are, and the location shifts over the ages. If I understand correctly, the Doors of Death have been forced open. Gaea's minions have seized control of them — "

"Which means Gaea controls who can come back from the dead," Percy guessed.

Nico nodded. "She can pick and choose who to let out — the worst monsters, the most evil souls. If we rescue Thanatos, that means at least he can catch souls again and send them below. Monsters will die when we kill them, like they used to, and we'll get a little breathing room. But unless we're able to retake the Doors of Death, our enemies won't stay down for long. They'll have an easy way back to the world of the living."

"So we can catch them and deport them," Percy summed up, "but they'll just keep coming back across."

"In a depressing nutshell, yes," Nico said.

Frank scratched his head. "But Thanatos knows where the doors are, right? If we free him, he can retake them."

"I don't think so," Nico said. "Not alone. He's no match for Gaea. That would take a massive quest... an army of the best demigods."

"Foes bear arms to the Doors of Death," Reyna said. "That's the Prophecy of Eight..." She looked at Daria, and for just a moment she could see how scared she was. She did a good job of hiding it, but Daria wondered if she'd had nightmares too — if she'd seen visions of what would happen when the camp was invaded by monsters that couldn't be killed. "If this begins the ancient prophecy, we don't have resources to send an army to these Doors of Death and protect the camp. I can't imagine even sparing eight demigods — "

"First things first." Daria tried to sound confident, though she could feel the level of panic rising in the room. "We don't know who the eight are, or what that old prophecy means, exactly. But first we have to free Thanatos. Mars told us we only needed four people for the quest to Alaska. Let's concentrate on succeeding with that and getting back before the Feast of Fortuna. Then we can worry about the Doors of Death."

"Yeah," Frank said in a small voice. "That's probably enough for one week."

"So you do have a plan?" Octavian asked skeptically.

Percy looked at his teammates. "We go to Alaska as fast as possible..."

"And we improvise," Hazel said.

"A lot," Frank added.

"What they said," Daria gave Reyna a dry smile, "Come on, we've gone on worse quests."

Reyna studied them. She looked like she was mentally writing her own obituary.

"Very well," she said. "Nothing remains except for us to vote what support we can give the quest — transportation, money, magic, weapons."

"Praetor, if I may," Octavian said.

"Here it comes." Daria mumbled.

"The camp is in grave danger," Octavian said. 'Two gods have warned us we will be attacked four days from now. We must not spread our resources too thin, especially by funding projects that have a slim chance of success."

Octavian looked at the four of them with pity, as if to say, _Poor little things_. "Mars has clearly chosen the least likely candidates for this quest, and we've added Daria. Perhaps that is because he considers them the most expendable."

"You did not just call me expendable," Daria snapped. She looked at her questmates, "no offense."

Frank shrugged, "You're not wrong."

"-Perhaps Mars is playing the long odds. Whatever the case, he wisely didn't order a massive expedition, nor did he ask us to fund their adventure. I say we keep our resources here and defend the camp. This is where the battle will be lost or won. If these four succeed, wonderful! But they should do so by their own ingenuity."

An uneasy murmur passed through the crowd. Frank jumped to his feet. Before he could start a fight, Percy said, "Fine! No problem. But at least give us transportation. Gaea is the earth goddess, right? Going overland, across the earth — I'm guessing we should avoid that. Plus, it'll be too slow."

Octavian laughed. "Would you like us to charter you an airplane?"

The idea made Daria nauseous and she figured Percy felt the same way. "No. Air travel... I have a feeling that would be bad, too. But a boat. Can you at least give us a boat?"

Hazel made a grunting sound. "A boat!" Octavian turned to the senators. "The son of Neptune wants a boat. Sea travel has never been the Roman way, but he isn't much of a Roman!"

"Octavian," Reyna said sternly, "a boat is little enough to ask. And providing no other aid seems very — "

"Traditional!" Octavian exclaimed. "It is very traditional. Let us see if these questers have the strength to survive without help, like true Romans!"

Daria gritted her teeth, she was itching for a fight. She wanted to slap Octavian upside the head. He dared to question her Romaness? When she had been here for 14 years?

More muttering filled the chamber. The senators' eyes moved back and forth between Octavian and Reyna, watching the test of wills.

Reyna straightened in her chair. "Very well," she said tightly. She had no choice. "We'll put it to a vote. Senators, the motion is as follows: The quest shall go to Alaska. The senate shall provide full access to the Roman navy docked at Alameda. No other aid will be forthcoming. The three adventurers will survive or fail on their own merits. All in favor?"

Every senator's hand went up.

"The motion is passed." Reyna turned to Frank. "Centurion, your party is excused. The senate has other matters to discuss. And, Octavian, if I may confer with you for a moment."

Daria was extremely glad to be outside of that Senate House, taking in a deep breath as she filled her lungs with fresh air.

Hazel picked up a large emerald from the path and slipped it in her pocket. "So. . .we're pretty much toast?"

Frank nodded miserably. "If any of you want to back out, I wouldn't blame you."

"Are you kidding?" Daria said. "Even a week away from Octavian is like heaven."

Frank managed a smile. He turned to Percy.

"I'm with you," he told Frank. "Besides, I want to check out the Roman navy."

They were only halfway across the forum when some called, "Jacksons!" Daria turned and saw Octavian jogging toward them.

"What do you want?" Percy asked.

Octavian smiled. "Already decided I'm your enemy? That's a rash choice, Percy. I'm a loyal Roman."

Daria snarled. "You dare — " Both Percy and Hazel yanked her back, while Frank looked like he wanted to join in.

"Oh, dear," Octavian said. "Hardly the right behavior for the Primus Pilus. Jacksons, I only followed you because Reyna charged me with a message. She wants you to report to the principia without your — ah — the other two, here. Reyna will meet you there after the senate adjourns. She'd like a private word with you before you leave on your quest."

"I was headed there anyway." Daria said, "Now get out of my way."

"What about?" Percy said.

"I'm sure I don't know." Octavian smiled wickedly. "The last person she had a private talk with was Jason Grace. And that was the last time I ever saw him. Good luck and good bye, Percy Jackson."

Daria got a solid uppercut in before Percy managed to pull her away.


	5. four

Reyna stormed into the principia with her purple cloak billowing, and her greyhounds at her feet. Percy was sitting in one of the praetor chairs that he and Daria had pulled to the visitor's side, which Daria had assured him was fine, but he started to get up.

"Stay seated," Reyna growled. "You leave after lunch. We have a lot to discuss."

She plunked down her dagger so hard, the jelly-bean bowl rattled. Aurum and Argentum took their posts on her left and right and fixed their ruby eyes on Percy.

"What'd I do wrong?" Percy asked. "If it's about the chair — "

"It's not you." Reyna scowled. "I hate senate meetings. When Octavian gets talking. . ."

Percy nodded. "You're a warrior. Octavian is a talker. Put him in front of the senate, and suddenly he becomes the powerful one."

Daria took a break from inspecting the jelly beans. Her face, which had been full of hot anger merely minutes earlier, was now passive. It was hard to believe that he was looking at the same person, "You're smarter than you look."

"Gee, thanks Dars. I hear Octavian might get elected praetor, assuming the camp survives that long." He didn't know how the nickname had slipped off his tongue, but Percy had heard Reyna use it before, and it felt well, natural. Brotherly even.

"Which brings us to the subject of doomsday," Reyna said, "and how you might help prevent it. But before I place the fate of Camp Jupiter in your hands, we need to get a few things straight."

She sat down and put a ring on the table — a band of silver etched with a sword-and-torch design, like Reyna's tattoo.

"Do you know what this is?"

"The sign of your mom," Percy said. "The...uh, war goddess." He tried to remember the name but he didn't want to get it wrong — something like bologna. Or salami?

"Bellona, yes." Reyna scrutinized him carefully. "You don't remember where you saw this rinq before? You really don't remember me or my sister, Hylla?"

Percy shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"It would've been four years ago."

"Just before you came to camp."

Reyna frowned. "How did you — ?"

"You've got four stripes on your tattoo. Four years."

Reyna looked at her forearm. "Of course. It seems so long ago. I suppose you wouldn't recall me even if you had your memory. I was just a little girl — one attendant among so many at the spa. But you spoke with my sister, just before you and that other one, Annabeth, destroyed our home."

Percy tried to remember. He really did. For some reason, Annabeth and he had visited a spa and decided to destroy it. He couldn't imagine why. Maybe they hadn't liked the deep-tissue massage? Maybe they'd gotten bad manicures?

"It's a blank," he said. "Since your dogs aren't attacking me, I hope you'll believe me. I'm telling the truth."

Aurum and Argentum snarled. Percy got the feeling they were thinking, _Please lie. Please lie. _

Reyna tapped the silver ring.

"I believe you're sincere," she said.

"So do I!"

"But not everyone at camp does. Octavian thinks you're a spy. He thinks you were sent here by Gaea to find our weaknesses and distract us. He believes the old legends about the Greeks."

"Old legends?"

Reyna's hand rested halfway between her dagger and the jelly beans that Daria had set on the table. Percy had a feeling that if she made a sudden move, she wouldn't be grabbing for the candy.

"Some believe Greek demigods still exist," she said, "heroes who follow the older forms of the gods. There are legends of battles between Roman and Greek heroes in relatively modern times — the American Civil War, for instance. I have no proof of this, and if our Lares know anything, they refuse to say. But Octavian believes the Greeks are still around, plotting our downfall, working with the forces of Gaea. He thinks you are one of them."

"Is that what you believe?"

"I believe you came from somewhere," she said. "You're important, and dangerous. Two gods have taken a special interest in you since you arrived, so I can't believe you'd work against Olympus... or Rome." She shrugged. "Of course, I could be wrong. Perhaps the gods sent you here to test my judgment. But I think... I think you were sent here to make up for the loss of Jason."

_Jason ... _Percy couldn't go very far in this camp without hearing that name. Daria glanced at Reyna, her expression unreadable. Percy, truthfully, was a little surprised that she was managing to keep her emotions in check. If someone had told him that his boyfriend was dead, he would be raising hell.

So he called her out on in, "You two were a couple, weren't you?" He scanned her face. The only signs of sadness were in her green eyes, which bored into him — like the eyes of a hungry wolf. And Percy had seen enough hungry wolves to know. "How do you...aren't you upset?"

"Of course I am," Daria's voice was shaky. "But, he's not dead. I...Well, he's not dead. So for now we've got you." She said 'you' like she didn't think he was very impressive. Which was fine with Percy, he was pretty sure that Daria had thrown the fight yesterday, and if she needed to, she could kick his ass.

"Praetors work closely together." Reyna said. " But Jason was only praetor for a few months before he disappeared. Ever since then, Octavian has been pestering me, agitating for new elections. I've resisted. I need a partner in power — but I'd prefer someone like Jason. A warrior, not a schemer."

She waited. Percy realized she was sending him a silent invitation.

His throat went dry. "Oh ... you mean ... oh."

"I believe the gods sent you to help me," Reyna said, "I don't understand where you come from, any more than I understood it four years ago. But I think your arrival is some sort of repayment. You destroyed my home once. Now you've been sent to save my home. I don't hold a grudge against you for the past, Percy. My sister hates you still, it's true, but Fate brought me here to Camp Jupiter. I've done well. All I ask is that you work with me and Daria for the future. I intend to save this camp."

The metal dogs glared at him, their mouths frozen in snarl mode. Percy found Reyna's eyes a lot harder to meet.

''Look, I'll help," he promised. "But I'm new here. You've got a lot of good people who know this camp better than I do. If we succeed on this quest, Hazel and Frank will be heroes. You could ask one of them — "

"Please," Reyna said. "No one will follow a child of Pluto. There's something about that girl. ..rumors about where she came from.. ..No, she won't do. As for Frank Zhang, he has a good heart, but he's hopelessly naive and inexperienced. Besides, if the others found out about his family history at this camp — "

"Family history?" He glanced at Daria but she seemed just as confused as he was. He was starting to realize that she put on a very well-built facade. She didn't know all the inner workings of Camp Jupiter, even though she had probably been in the legion for the longest amount of time. And yet, she made everyone think that she did. If she used her manipulation in the wrong way, she would be like Octavian on steroids.

"The point is, Percy, you, other than Daria, are the real power on this quest. You are a seasoned veteran. I've seen what you can do. A son of Neptune wouldn't be my first choice, but if you return successfully from this mission, the legion might be saved. The praetorship will be yours for the taking. Together, you and I could expand the power of Rome. We could raise an army and find the Doors of Death, crush Gaea's forces once and for all. You would find me a very helpful... friend."

"When Jason gets back you can fight it out," Daria suggested, like her boyfriend had just gone on a short vacation. "A battle against the son of Jupiter and the son of Neptune. That'll be fun to watch."

Percy's feet started tapping on the floor, anxious to run. "Reyna... I'm honored, and all. Seriously. But I've got a girlfriend. And I don't want power, or a praetorship."

Percy was afraid he'd make her mad. Instead she just raised her eyebrows.

"A man who turns down power?" she said. "That's not very Roman of you. Just think about it. In four days, I have to make a choice. If we are to fight off an invasion, we must have two strong praetors. I'd prefer you, but if you fail on your quest, or don't come back, or refuse my offer. . .Well, I'll work with Octavian. I mean to save this camp, Percy Jackson. Things are worse than you realize."

Percy remembered what Frank said about the monster attacks getting more frequent. "How bad?"

Reyna's nails dug into the table and this time Daria spoke. "Even the senate doesn't know the whole truth. We've asked Octavian not to share his auguries, or we'd have mass panic. He's seen a great army marching south, more than we can possibly defeat. They're led by a giant — "

"Alcyoneus?"

"I don't think so. If he is truly invulnerable in Alaska, he'd be foolish to come here himself. It must be one of his brothers."

"Great," Percy said. "So we've got two giants to worry about."

Reyna nodded. "Lupa and her wolves are trying to slow them down, but this force is too strong even for them. The enemy will be here soon — by the Feast of Fortuna at the very latest."

Percy shuddered. He'd seen Lupa in action. He knew all about the wolf goddess and her pack. If this enemy was too powerful for Lupa, Camp Jupiter didn't stand a chance.

Reyna read his expression. "Yes, it's bad, but not hopeless. If you succeed in bringing back our eagle, if you release Death so we can actually kill our enemies, then we stand a chance. And there's one more possibility..."

Reyna slid the silver ring across the table. "I can't give you much help, but your journey will take you close to Seattle. I'm asking you for a favor, which may also help you. Find my sister Hylla."

"Your sister. . .the one who hates me?"

"Oh, yes," Reyna agreed. "She would love to kill you, but she would love to kill Daria even more. Show her that, and she may help you instead." He didn't miss the other girl roll her eyes.

"May?'

"I can't speak for her. In fact..." Reyna frowned. "In fact I haven't spoken to her in weeks. She's gone silent. With these armies passing through…"

You want us to check on her," Percy guessed. "Make sure she's okay."

"Partially, yes. I can't imagine she's been overcome. My sister has a powerful force. Her territory is well defended. But if you can find her, she could offer you valuable help. It could mean the difference between success and failure on your quest. And if you tell her what's happening here — "

"She might send help?" Percy asked.

Reyna didn't answer, but Percy could see the desperation in her eyes. She was terrified, grasping for anything that could save her camp. No wonder she wanted Percy's help. She was the only praetor. The defense of the entire camp rested on her and Daria's shoulders and judging by the glances the praetor kept giving her friend, Daria hadn't been in the best mind lately.

Percy took the ring. "I'll find her. Where do I look? What kind force does she have?"

"Don't worry. Just go to Seattle. They'll find you."

That didn't sound encouraging, but Percy slipped the ring onto his leather necklace with his beads and his probatio tablet. "Wish me luck."

"Fight well, Percy Jackson," Reyna said. "And thank you. Daria, stay behind, I'll have someone pack your things. We need to talk."

He could tell the audience was over. Reyna was having trouble holding herself together, keeping up the image of the confident commander. She needed some time with her friend, although Percy still wanted to know how Daria's glasses didn't fall off in battle.

But at the door of the principia, Percy couldn't resist turning. "How did we destroy your home — that spa where you lived?"

The metal greyhounds growled. Reyna snapped her fingers to silence them.

"You destroyed the power of our mistress," she said. "You freed some prisoners who took revenge on all of us who lived on the island. My sister and I... well, we survived. It was difficult. But in the long run, I think we are better off away from that place."

"Still, I'm sorry," Percy said. "If I hurt you, I'm sorry."

Reyna gazed at him for a long time, as if trying to translate his words. "An apology? Not very Roman at all, Percy Jackson. You'd make an interesting praetor. I hope you'll think about my offer."

If you'd never been inside the praetors' residence, you would probably think that Reyna's house was in fact Jason's.

Scrolls were strewn across her work table, surrounded by stains from old coffee cups. Her bed was made of course, standard procedure, but at the foot of it were heaps of clothes that could have been brand new or weeks old. There were weapons scattered on the floor, which was probably a safety hazard, and her toga lay in a discarded clump by the bathroom.

The walls were white, accented by gold medals and ribbons. There was only one picture in the room, and it was of Daria, always the shortest, always in the middle, with Jason and Reyna on either side of her. It had been two years ago, when Reyna hadn't been elected praetor yet. Daria remembered the day well. It was before Krios, before that horrible visit to Olympus. Back when they had been fourteen and the biggest problem they had to worry about was getting a date to their first demigod prom.

"You'll be okay on this quest right?" Reyna asked her. "With everything that's going on…"

Daria paused for a moment, turning to face her friend while counting on her fingers, "9,10, Reyna I've been on 12 quests. Even if my boyfriend is gone-I think I'll survive." She thought for a second, "Will _you_ be okay Rey?"

She snorted, "I will be if Octavian doesn't get any worse."

"So that's a no."

Reyna laughed, "Anyway, I mostly called you here because I found something snooping around in Jason's room." She opened her incredibly messy desk drawer, seriously, it was stressing Daria out, and pulled out a silver chain. One that looked very familiar.

"That's his," Daria muttered, as if Reyna didn't already know. On it were the words _Nihil Time_, _fear nothing_. Daria had always thought it was stupid, it wasn't human to not be afraid on anything, and it was given to Jason by his father, which was another reason that she hated it. It was the only thing Jupiter had done for his only demigod son. Even though it wasn't very common for the Gods to interact with their children, they got some signs ...a dream, glowing eyes at the alter, something. Jupiter couldn't care less.

Of course, when Daria had told him that he had snapped back at her. "You don't even know who your parent is!" Her boyfriend had an infuriating amount of respect for his father. But Jupiter was a selfish jerk, there, she thought it.

"You should take it," Reyna said. "Here I'll put it on you."

"I knew it," Daria accused her, "you called me in here to make a move on me."

Reyna rolled her eyes, "you wish." She spun Daria around, even if she hated the damn thing, there was no way she would take it off. Not until she saw him again.

She played with the sliver plate that held the words, she had said this plenty of times since October but, "I miss him Rey."

Her eyes were full of pity, and she swallowed hard before replying, "what? I'm not good enough for you?" She squeezed Daria's hand, "come on, you've got a quest to go on."


	6. five

Bobby gave them a ride to the border of the valley on Hannibal the elephant. From the hilltops, Daria could see everything below. The Little Tiber snaked across golden pastures where the unicorns were grazing. The temples and forums of New Rome gleamed in the sunlight. On the Field of Mars, engineers were hard at work, pulling down the remains of last night's fort and setting up barricades for a game of death ball. A normal day for Camp Jupiter — but on the northern horizon, storm clouds were gathering. Shadows moved across the hills, and Daria imagined the face of Gaea getting closer and closer.

They got off the elephant. Bobby wished them a safe journey. Hannibal wrapped the four questers with his trunk. Then the elephant taxi service headed back into the valley.

Daria sighed, this was as good as it was going to get. She turned to her fellow Romans and tried to think of something upbeat to say but a familiar voice beat her to it, "IDs, please."

A statue of Terminus appeared at the summit of the hill. The god's marble face frowned irritably. "Well? Come along!"

"You again?" Percy asked. "I thought you just guarded the city."

Terminus huffed. "Glad to see you, too, Mr. Rule Flouter. Normally, yes, I guard the city, but for international departures, I like to provide extra security at the camp borders. You really should've allowed two hours before your planned departure time, you know. But we'll have to make do. Now, come over here so I can pat you down."

"But you don't have — " Percy stopped himself. "Uh, sure."

He stood next to the armless statue. Terminus conducted a rigorous mental pat down.

"You seem to be clean," Terminus decided. "Do you have anything to declare?"

"Yes," Percy said. "I declare this is stupid." Daria snorted.

"Hmph! Probatio tablet: Percy Jackson, Fifth Cohort, son of Neptune. Fine, go. Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. Fine. Any foreign currency or, ahem, precious metals to declare?"

"No," she muttered.

"Are you sure?" Terminus asked. "Because last time — "

"No!"

"Well, this is a grumpy bunch," said the god. "Quest travelers! Always in a , oh Daria Jackson. Hmm unclaimed like the last thirteen years I suppose. Could be more intimidating without the glasses, but well, it will have to do for now."

"You don't wear your contacts for one day," she grumbled. "And everyone loses their shit."

"Now, let's see — Frank Zhang. Ah! Centurion? Well done, Frank. And that haircut is regulation perfect. I approve! Off you go, then, Centurion Zhang. Do you need any directions today?"

"No. No, I guess not."

"Just down to the BART station," Terminus said anyway. "Change trains at Twelfth Street in Oakland. You want Fruitvale Station. From there, you can walk or take the bus to Alameda."

"You guys don't have a magical BART train or something?" Percy asked.

"Magic trains!" Terminus scoffed. "You'll be wanting your own security lane and a pass to the executive lounge next. Just travel safely, and watch out for Polybotes. Talk about scofflaws — bah! I wish I could throttle him with my bare hands."

"Wait — who?" Percy asked.

Terminus made a straining expression, like he was flexing his nonexistent biceps. "Ah, well. Just be careful of him. I imagine he can smell a son of Neptune a mile away. Out you go, now. Good luck!"

An invisible force kicked them across the boundary. When Daria looked back, Terminus was gone. In fact, the entire valley was gone. The Berkeley Hills seemed to be free of any Roman camp.

Percy looked at his friends. "Any idea what Terminus was talking about? Watch out for. ..Political something or other?"

"Poh-LIB-uh-tease?" Hazel sounded out the name carefully. "Never heard of him."

"Sounds Greek," Frank said.

"I think he's one of the giants," Daria offered. "Anti-Neptune probably, sorry dude."

"That's fun." Percy sighed. "Well, we probably just appeared on the smell radar for every monster within five miles. We'd better get moving."

It took them two hours to reach the docks in Alameda. Compared to other quests, this trek was suspiciously easy. No monsters attacked. No crazy old guys with fishy breath like San Fran.

Frank had stored his spear, bow, and quiver in a long bag made for skis. Hazel's cavalry sword was wrapped in a bedroll slung on her back. Daria had her rings and of course, Percy's pen was in his pocket. Together the four of them looked like normal high schoolers on their way to an overnight trip. They walked to Rockridge Station, bought their tickets with mortal money, and hopped on the BART train.

They got off in Oakland. They had to walk through some rough neighborhoods, but nobody bothered them. Whenever the local gang members came close enough to look in Daria's eyes, they quickly veered away. There was a reason that the majority of Camp Jupiter was intimidated by her when they first arrived as new campers. And after their battle on Mount Tam, Daria's glare had gotten a lot scarier.

In the late afternoon, they made it to the Alameda docks. Daria looked out over San Francisco Bay and breathed in the salty sea air. She took one glance at Percy, who looked like he had just found out the secret to eternal peace, and a sense of satisfaction rose in her stomach. She just felt ...normal. There was no way Neptune could be her father. So it begged the age old question, who was her godly parent? And did the woman from her dreams hold the answer?

Dozens of boats were moored at the docks — everything from fifty-foot yachts to ten-foot fishing boats. She scanned the slips for some sort of magic vessel — a trireme, maybe, or a dragon-headed warship like he'd seen in his dreams.

"Urn... you guys know what we're looking for?" Percy asked.

Hazel and Frank shook their heads.

"I didn't even know we had a navy." Daria said. "In all the years I've been here, we've never used it."

"Oh..." Frank pointed. "You don't think...?"

At the end of the dock was a tiny boat, like a dinghy, covered in a purple tarp. Embroidered in faded gold along the canvas was S.P.Q.R.

Daria could see Percy's confidence waver. "No way."

He uncovered the boat, his hands working the knots like he'd been doing it his whole life. Under the tarp was an old steel rowboat with no oars. The boat had been painted dark blue at one point, but the hull was so crusted with tar and salt it looked like one massive nautical bruise.

On the bow, the name Pax was still readable, lettered in gold. Painted eyes drooped sadly at the water level, as if the boat were about to fall asleep. On board were two benches, some steel wool, an old cooler, and a mound of frayed rope with one end tied to the mooring. At the bottom of the boat, aplastic bag and two empty Coke cans floated in several inches of scummy water.

"Behold," Frank said. "The mighty Roman navy."

"There's got to be a mistake," Hazel said. "This is a piece of junk."

"This is why none of us knew about the navy," Daria agreed.

Percy jumped aboard, and the hull hummed under his feet, responding to his presence. He gathered up the garbage in the cooler and put it on the dock. He willed the scummy water to flow over the sides and out of the boat. Then he pointed at the steel wool and it flew across the floor, scrubbing and polishing so fast, the steel began to smoke. When it was done, the boat was clean. Percy pointed at the rope, and it untied itself from the dock.

No oars, but that didn't matter. Daria could tell that the boat was ready to move, just awaiting his command.

"This'll do," he said. "Hop in."

Hazel and Frank looked a little stunned, but the three of them climbed aboard. Hazel seemed especially nervous. When they had settled on the seats, Percy concentrated, and the boat slipped away from the dock.

"Get off my ship," Percy growled.

"Uh, what?" Frank asked.

Percy waited, but Daria couldn't hear anything. She supposed it was something along the lines of Gaea's voice speaking to him, and she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. She guessed Gaea had just deemed her to be unimportant.

"Nothing," he said. "Let's see what this rowboat can do."

He turned the boat to the north, and in no time they were speeding along at fifteen knots, heading for the Golden Gate Bridge.

Daria loved the feeling of the sea breeze in her hair. Significantly more than Hazel did anyway; the poor girl looked so seasick that she was surprised that Frank was still sitting that close to her. They sped by a pack of sea lions lounging on the docks, and she swore she saw an old homeless guy sitting among them. From across the water, the old man pointed a bony finger at Percy and mouthed something like Don't even think about it.

"Did you see that?" Hazel asked.

Percy's face was red in the sunset. "Yeah. I've been here before. I... I don't know. I think I was looking for my girlfriend."

"Annabeth," Frank said. "You mean, on your way to Camp Jupiter?"

Percy frowned. "No. Before that." He scanned the city like he was still looking for Annabeth until they passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and turned north.

Daria peered around along with him, but she had a different person in mind. Of course, she and Reyna had already scoured the vast majority of California by now looking for Jason, but that tingling feeling of hope would remain with her until he returned.

See, Jason couldn't be dead. He was too smart, too cautious, too hard-wired for something to go wrong. But also, Daria had to remember, her idiot boyfriend was always too kind, too protective, too ready to sacrifice himself at the first sign of danger. _He wasn't dead, he wasn't dead, he wasn't dead_, she gripped the necklace tighter.

She was aware of Frank and Hazel chatting behind her, and Percy's tense silence. She had always respected Hazel, to be the only child of Pluto at camp, and to be hyper-aware of everyone's whispers couldn't be easy. And with Percy...there was a certain curiosity about him that dragged her and Reyna in, something that strung you along his vision for danger.

Then there was Frank. Daria didn't know what to think of him. Seemingly, he wasn't very complex. He was clumsy, extremely clumsy, but at least he was good with a bow.

As they passed Stinson Beach, Percy pointed inland, where a single mountain rose above the green hills.

"That looks familiar," he said.

"Mount Tam," Frank said. "Kids at camp are always talking about it. Big battle happened on the summit, at the old Titan base."

Percy frowned. "Were any of you there?"

"Hazel and Frank weren't," Daria said, her eyes were trained on the water. "It was back in August, before they got to camp. We stormed the enemy's...fortress, the entire legion. Jason had to battle Krios — hand-to-hand combat with a Titan, if you can imagine."

"I can imagine," Percy muttered. Daria believed him..

"Yeah well," she bit her lip. "We nearly lost half the legion. Sure, it was a huge victory but…" She rubbed her shoulder subconsciously, her old injury from the war. She didn't say that she almost lost her life that day. She and Jason were both dancing around at the time, trying to protect each other from any injury the monsters might inflict. An enemy demigod was about to spear Jason from the back, and well, Daria couldn't let that happen.

_Gods, Jason where are you?_ She sighed, and Percy turned to her, eyebrow raised in question. "Nothing," she muttered and rested her back on his shoulder, the tips of her boots hanging off the side of the boat. "Wake me up if you need me." And with that she closed her eyes, trying to gain back some of the sleep that Michael had stolen from her.

_Do not forget about me child_, the woman in the white dress interrupted what had originally been a pleasant dream.. They were in a forest, Daria realized. One in California based on the redwoods. The woman seemed eternally young, forest green eyes glowing with kindness_._ _I can help you. I can give you everything you need to succeed._

_Who are you_? Daria begged. _Please, are you my godly parent? Can you-can you help me find Jason?_

_My dearest,_ she purred. _I can help you take over the world._

"Daria get up," Percy shook her shoulder with such force that she almost drew her weapon, waking up with a start. "Hazel's not waking up."

She blinked sleep from her eyes and looked over at a frantic Frank hovered over Hazel. Indeed her face was pale and her breaths were coming out ragged. Could the seasickness really be that bad?

"Let's get her onto the shore," Daria suggested. "Look," there was a sheltered cliff in the direction she was facing. "There. Percy can you-"

"On it," and the boat sped off.

"Hazel!" Frank shook her arms, panicked. "Come on, please! Wake up!"

She opened her eyes. The night sky blazed with stars. The rocking of the boat was gone. She was lying on solid ground, her bundled sword and pack beside her.

She sat up groggily, her head spinning. They were on a cliff overlooking a beach. About a hundred feet away, the ocean glinted in the moonlight. The surf washed gently against the stern of their beached boat. To her right, hugging the edge of the cliff, was a building like a small church with a search light in the steeple. A lighthouse, Hazel guessed. Behind them, fields of tall grass rustled in the wind.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Frank exhaled. "Thank the gods you're awake! We're in Mendocino, about a hundred and fifty miles north of the Golden Gate."

"A hundred and fifty miles?" Hazel groaned. "I've been out that long?"

Percy knelt beside her, the sea wind sweeping his hair. Daria seemed to be standing guard but she glanced at Hazel, and she was a little surprised to see concern in her eyes. Truthfully, Hazel hadn't seen Daria show _any_ emotion since Jason was gone, or maybe she was just making that up.

Percy put his hand on her forehead as if checking for a fever. "We couldn't wake you. Finally we decided to bring you ashore. We thought maybe the seasickness — "

"It wasn't seasickness." She took a deep breath. She couldn't hide the truth from them anymore. She remembered what Nico had said: If a flashback like that happens when you're in combat...

"I — I haven't been honest with you," she said. "What happened was a blackout. I have them once in a while."

"A blackout?" Frank took Hazel's hand, which startled her. ..though pleasantly so. "Is it medical? Why haven't I noticed before?"

"I try to hide it," she admitted. "I've been lucky so far, but it's getting worse. It's not medical... not really. Nico says it's a side effect from my past, from where he found me."

Percy's intense green eyes were hard to read. She couldn't tell whether he was concerned or wary, and Daria's gaze matched his. She could see what Juno meant about "the Jacksons".

"Where exactly did Nico find you?" he asked.

Hazel's tongue felt like cotton. She was afraid if she started talking, she'd slip back into the past, but they deserved to know. If she failed them on this quest, zonked out when they needed her most. . .she couldn't bear that idea.

"I'll explain," she promised. She clawed through her pack. Stupidly, she'd forgotten to bring a water bottle. "Is... is there anything to drink?"

"Yeah." Percy muttered a curse in Greek. "That was dumb. I left my supplies down at the boat."

Hazel felt bad asking them to take care of her, but she'd woken up parched and exhausted, as if she'd lived the last few hours in both the past and the present. She shouldered her pack and sword. "Never mind. I can walk..."

"Don't even think about it," Frank said. "Not until you've had some food and water. I'll get the supplies."

"No, I'll go." Percy glanced at Frank's hand on Hazel's. Then he scanned the horizon as if he sensed trouble, but there was nothing to see — just the lighthouse and the field of grass stretching inland. "You two stay here. I'll be right back."

"I'll come too," Daria offered. There was something like a challenge in her voice, almost like she was talking to Jason, "You can't go alone, it's too dark." Percy simply nodded back.

"You sure?" Hazel said feebly. "I don't want you to — "

"It's fine," said Daria. "Frank, just keep your eyes open. Something about this place... I don't know."

"I'll keep her safe," Frank promised.

They dashed off.

Once they were alone, Frank seemed to realize he was still holding Hazel's hand. He cleared his throat and let go.

"I, urn. . .1 think I understand your blackouts," he said. "And where you come from."

Her heartbeat stumbled. "You do?"

"You seem so different from other girls I've met." He blinked, then rushed on. "Not like ... bad different. Just the way you talk. The things that surprise you — like songs, or TV shows, or slang people use. You talk about your life like it happened a long time ago. You were born in a different time, weren't you? You came from the Underworld."

Hazel wanted to cry — not because she was sad, but because it was such a relief to hear someone say the truth. Frank didn't act revolted or scared. He didn't look at her as if she were a ghost or some awful undead zombie.

"Frank, I — "

"We'll figure it out," he promised. "You're alive now. We're going to keep you that way."

The grass rustled behind them. Hazel's eyes stung in the cold wind.

"I don't deserve a friend like you," she said. "You don't know what I am... what I've done."

"Stop that." Frank scowled. "You're great! Besides, you're not the only one with secrets."

Hazel stared at him. "I'm not?"

Frank started to say something. Then he tensed.

"What?" Hazel asked.

"The wind's stopped."

She looked around and noticed he was right. The air had become perfectly still.

"So?" she asked.

Frank swallowed. "So why is the grass still moving?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Hazel saw dark shapes ripple through the field.

"Hazel!" Frank tried to grab her arms, but it was too late.

Something knocked him backward. Then a force like a grassy hurricane wrapped around Hazel and dragged her into the fields.

* * *

Hi, I want to keep uploading every Friday/Saturday, but not if no one's reading it. I have lots of ideas for this story but one review for the next chapter plzzz

3 Meg


	7. six

"You," Daria decided. "Are excruciatingly annoying."

Percy glanced back at her, a few feet ahead with his sword drawn. "I'm being careful."

Daria hummed, "What you're being is overbearing. Come on, we're just getting water from the boat, I really don't think-"

"_Hazel!_" They heard Frank shout and immediately Percy gave her the look: _I told you so_.

"Well," Daria mumbled, racing back up the hill with her backpack slung over her shoulder. "Technically, _we_ were fine."

They made it up the hill in record time to see Frank with his bow drawn and no Hazel in sight. "What happened?" Percy gasped out. "Where's Hazel?"

"She got taken by...I don't know, these grass things. Maybe grains, I-"

"_Karpoi_," Daria cursed. "Grain spirits. Not as harmless as you would think. Which way did they go?"

Frank pointed. They made their way across the fields as quickly as they could while still on the lookout for more _karpoi. _After a few minutes of rapid speed-walking, Percy shushed them.

"Do you hear that?" he cupped his hand around his ear. "Sounds like Hazel to me."

Now, Daria hasn't been under Lupa's guidance in quite a few years, but there was something really irritating about Percy hearing that faster than she did. If this is what siblings were like, she was glad she didn't have any.

"It's her," Frank confirmed. "If we get a bit closer I've got a good shot." He slowly paced forward a few steps, like a hunter. Percy and Daria followed, weapons drawn.

And Frank did get a good shot, not that Daria was very surprised. The first _karpoi_ turned into something that resembled Chex Mix and with that, the three of them burst into the open and began to massacre every source of fiber they could find. Frank shot an arrow through Barley, who crumbled into seeds. Percy slashed Riptide through Sorghum and Daria sliced through Millet and Oats. Hazel jumped down and joined the fight.

Within minutes, the _karpoi_ had been reduced to piles of seeds and various breakfast cereals. Wheat started to re-form, but Percy pulled a lighter from his pack and sparked a flame.

"Try it," he warned, "and I'll set this whole field on fire. Stay dead. Stay away from us, or the grass gets it!"

Frank winced like the flame terrified him. Daria didn't understand why, but she shouted at the grain piles anyway: "He'll do it! He's crazy!"

The remnants of the karpoi scattered in the wind. Frank climbed the rock and watched them go.

Percy extinguished his lighter and grinned at Hazel. "Thanks for yelling. We wouldn't have found you otherwise. How'd you hold them off so long?"

She pointed to the rock. "A big pile of schist."

"Excuse me?"

"Guys," Frank called from the top of the rock. "You need to see this."

Percy, Daria, and Hazel climbed up to join him. As soon as Daria saw what he was looking at, she inhaled sharply. "Percy, no light! Put up your sword!"

"Schist!" He touched the sword tip, and Riptide shrank back into a pen.

Down below them, an army was on the move. The field dropped into a shallow ravine, where a country road wound north and south. On the opposite side of the road, grassy hills stretched to the horizon, empty of civilization except for one darkened convenience store at the top of the nearest rise.

The whole ravine was full of monsters — column after column marching south, so many and so close, Daria was amazed they hadn't heard Hazel shouting.

The four of them crouched against the rock. They watched in disbelief as several dozen large, hairy humanoids passed by, dressed in tattered bits of armor and animal fur. The creatures had six arms each, three sprouting on either side, so they looked like cavemen evolved from insects.

"Gegenes," Hazel whispered. "The Earthborn."

"You've fought them before?" Percy asked.

She shook her head. "Just heard about them in monster class at camp."

Daria hated monster class.

"The Earthborn fought the Argonauts," she murmured. "And those things behind them — "

"Centaurs," Percy said. "But. ..that's not right. Centaurs are good guys."

Frank made a choking sound. "That's not what we were taught at camp. Centaurs are crazy, always getting drunk and killing heroes."

Daria watched as the horse-men cantered past. They were human from the waist up, palomino from the waist down. They were dressed in barbarian armor of hide and bronze, armed with spears and slings. At first, Daria thought they were wearing Viking helmets. Then she realized they were actual horns jutting from their shaggy hair.

"Are they supposed to have bull's horns?" she asked.

"Maybe they're a special breed," Frank said. "Let's not ask them, okay?"

Percy gazed farther down the road and his face went slack. "My gods ... Cyclopes."

Sure enough, lumbering after the centaurs was a battalion of one-eyed ogres, both male and female, each about ten feet tall, wearing armor cobbled out of junkyard metal. Six of the monsters were yoked like oxen, pulling a two-story-tall siege tower fitted with a giant scorpion ballista.

Percy pressed the sides of his head. "Cyclopes. Centaurs. This is wrong. All wrong."

The monster army was enough to make anyone despair, but Daria realized that something else was going on with Percy. He looked pale and sickly in the moonlight, as if his memories were trying to come back, scrambling his mind in the process.

She glanced at Frank and Hazel. "We need to get him back to the boat. The sea will make him feel better."

"No argument," Frank said. "There are too many of them. The camp... we have to warn the camp."

"They know," Percy reminded her. "Reyna knows."

A lump formed in Daria's throat. There was no way the legion could fight so many, especially with some of their best fighters gone. If they were only a few hundred miles north of Camp Jupiter, their quest was already doomed. They could never make it to Alaska and back in time.

"Come on," she urged. "Let's..."

Then she saw the giant.

When he appeared over the ridge, Daria couldn't quite believe her eyes. He was taller than the siege tower — thirty feet, at least — with scaly reptilian legs like a Komodo dragon from the waist down and green-blue armor from the waist up. His breastplate was shaped like rows of hungry monstrous faces, their mouths open as if demanding food. His face was human, but his hair was wild and green, like a mop of seaweed. As he turned his head from side to side, snakes dropped from his dreadlocks. Viper dandruff — gross.

He was armed with a massive trident and a weighted net. Just the sight of those weapons made Daria's stomach clench. She'd faced that type of fighter in gladiator training and real life many times. It was the trickiest, sneakiest, most evil combat style she knew. This giant was a supersize retiarius.

"Who is he?" Frank's voice quivered. "That's not — "

"Not Alcyoneus," Hazel said weakly. "One of his brothers, I think. The one Terminus mentioned. The grain spirit mentioned him, too. That's Polybotes."

"Polybotes," Daria muttered, glancing back at Percy. "The anti-Neptune".

She wasn't sure how Hazel was sure, but Daria could feel the giant's aura of power even from here. This giant was another child of Gaea — a creature of the earth so malevolent and powerful, he radiated his own gravitational field.

Daria knew they should leave. Their hiding place on top of the rock would be in plain sight to a creature that tall if he chose to look in their direction. But she sensed something important was about to happen. She and her friends crept a little farther down the schist and kept watching.

As the giant got close, a Cyclops woman broke ranks and ran back to speak with him. She was enormous, fat, and horribly ugly, wearing a chain-mail dress like a mummy — but next to the giant she looked like a child.

She pointed to the closed-up convenience store on top of the nearest hill and muttered something about food. The giant snapped back an answer, as if he was annoyed. The female Cyclopes barked an order to her kindred, and three of them followed her up the hill.

When they were halfway to the store, a searing light turned night into day. Daria was blinded. Below her, the enemy army dissolved into chaos, monsters screaming in pain and outrage. Daria squinted. She felt like she'd just stepped out of a dark theater into a sunny afternoon.

"Too pretty!" the Cyclopes shrieked. "Burns our eye!"

The store on the hill was encased in a rainbow, closer and brighter than any Daria had ever seen. The light was anchored at the store, shooting up into the heavens, bathing the countryside in a weird kaleidoscopic glow.

The lady Cyclops hefted her club and charged at the store. As she hit the rainbow, her whole body began to steam. She wailed in agony and dropped her club, retreating with multicolored blisters all over her arms and face.

"Horrible goddess!" she bellowed at the store. "Give us snacks!"

The other monsters went crazy, charging the convenience store, then running away as the rainbow light burned them. Some threw rocks, spears, swords, and even pieces of their armor, all of which burned up inflames of pretty colors.

Finally the giant leader seemed to realize that his troops were throwing away perfectly good equipment.

"Stop!" he roared.

With some difficulty, he managed to shout and push and pummel his troops into submission. When they'd quieted down, he approached the rainbow-shielded store himself and stalked around the borders of the light. "Goddess!" he shouted. "Come out and surrender!"

No answer from the store. The rainbow continued to shimmer.

The giant raised his trident and net. "I am Polybotes! Kneel before me so I may destroy you quickly."

Apparently, no one in the store was impressed. A tiny dark object came sailing out the window and landed at the giant's feet. Polybotes yelled, "Grenade!" He covered his face. His troops hit the ground.

When the thing did not explode, Polybotes bent down cautiously and picked it up.

He roared in outrage. "A Ding Dong? You dare insult me with a Ding Dong?" He threw the cake back at the shop, and it vaporized in the light.

The monsters got to their feet. Several muttered hungrily, "Ding Dongs? Where Ding Dongs?"

"Let's attack," said the lady Cyclops. "I am hungry. My boys want snacks!"

"No!" Polybotes said. "We're already late. Alcyoneus wants us at the camp in four days' time. You Cyclopes move inexcusably slowly. We have no time for minor goddesses!"

He aimed that last comment at the store, but got no response.

The lady Cyclops growled. "The camp, yes. Vengeance! The orange and purple ones destroyed my home. Now Ma Gasket will destroy theirs! Do you hear me, Leo? Jason? Piper? I come to annihilate you!"

The other Cyclopes bellowed in approval. The rest of the monsters joined in.

"Jason?" Daria whispered. She could feel her friends' eyes on her as she swallowed back tears. Her entire body tingled, or more like shook. "He's alive. Gods," She had to keep from laughing with glee, but she could feel the renewed sense of determination in her eyes as she shared a glance with Hazel.

Frank nodded. "Do those other names mean anything to you?"

Daria shook her head. She didn't know any Leo or Piper at camp. Percy still looked sickly and dazed. If the names meant anything to him, he didn't show it.

Daria pondered what the Cyclops had said: Orange and purple ones. Purple — obviously the color of Camp Jupiter. But orange. . .Percy had shown up in a tattered orange shirt. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Below them, the army began to march south again, but the giant Polybotes stood to one side, frowning and sniffing the air.

"Sea god," he muttered. To Daria's horror, he turned in their direction. "I smell sea god."

Percy was shaking. Hazel put her hand on his shoulder and tried to press him flat against the rock.

The lady Cyclops Ma Gasket snarled. "Of course you smell sea god! The sea is right over there!"

"More than that," Polybotes insisted. "I was born to destroy Neptune. I can sense..." He frowned, turning his head and shaking out a few more snakes.

"Do we march or sniff the air?" Ma Gasket scolded. "I don't get Ding Dongs, you don't get sea god!"

Polybotes growled. "Very well. March! March!" He took one last look at the rainbow-encased store, then raked his fingers through his hair. He brought out three snakes that seemed larger than the rest, with white markings around their necks. "A gift, goddess! My name, Polybotes, means 'Many- to-Feed!' Here are some hungry mouths for you. See if your store gets many customers with these sentries outside." He laughed wickedly and threw the snakes into the tall grass on the hillside.

Then he marched south, his massive Komodo legs shaking the earth. Gradually, the last column of monsters passed over the hills and disappeared into the night.

Once they were gone, the blinding rainbow shut off like a spotlight.

Hazel, Frank, Daria, and Percy were left alone in the dark, staring across the road at a closed-up convenience store.

"That was different," Frank muttered.

Percy shuddered violently. Daria knew he needed help, or rest, or something. Seeing that army seemed to have triggered some kind of memory, leaving him shell-shocked. They should get him back to the boat.

On the other hand, a huge stretch of grassland lay between them and the beach. Daria got the feeling the karpoi wouldn't stay away forever. She didn't like the idea of the four of them making their way back to the boat in the middle of the night. And she couldn't shake the dreadful feeling that if Hazel hadn't summoned that schist, they'd be a captive of the giant right now.

"Let's go to the store," she said. "If there's a goddess inside, maybe she can help us."

"Except a bunch of snake things are guarding the hill now," Frank said. "And that burning rainbow might comeback."

The three of them looked at Percy, who was shaking like he had hypothermia.

"We've got to try," Hazel said.

Frank nodded grimly. "Well... any goddess who throws a Ding Dong at a giant can't be all bad. Let's go."

* * *

**One review for the next chapter please! Thanks so much for reading!**

~M


	8. seven

Now that she knew that Jason was alive, Daria was ecstatic. Obviously, she couldn't voice this, as Percy looked like he was on the brink of death and Frank and Hazel looked like they wished they were dead, but now she remembered her raison d'etre. She would make it back home to him. She had to.

The four of them trudged up the hill. They were twenty yards from the porch when something hissed in the grass behind them.

"Go!" Frank yelled.

Percy stumbled. While Hazel helped him up, Frank turned and nocked an arrow and Daria drew her swords.

Frank shot blindly, illuminating the sky with a flaming arrow. Sitting in a patch of withered yellow grass was a lime-colored snake as short and thick as Frank's arm. Its head was ringed with a mane of spiky white fins. The creature stared at the arrow zipping by as if wondering, _What the heck is that? _

Then it fixed its large, yellow eyes on them. It advanced like an inchworm, hunching up in the middle. Wherever it touched, the grass withered and died. "Poison," she said through gritted teeth; Frank nodded.

Frank and Daria heard their friends climbing the steps of the store. She didn't dare turn and run. The demigods and the snake studied each other. The snake hissed, flames billowing from its mouth.

"Nice creepy reptile," Frank said, very aware of the driftwood in his coat pocket. "Nice poisonous, fire-breathing reptile."

"Frank, Daria!" Hazel yelled behind him. "Come on!"

The snake sprang at him. It sailed through the air so fast, there wasn't time to nock an arrow. Daria sliced through the monster's head in one single movement, watching in grim satisfaction as it crumbled to dust in front of them.

Frank made a surprised sound next to her, and it was only then that she realized her sword was steaming. It was Imperial Gold, it wouldn't melt, but it would be nearly impossible to clean it off without getting the poison on her. She groaned aloud and tossed it far away so that it landed with a "thud" on the ground, with any luck it would reappear the next time she summoned it. And if it didn't...well, they were pretty much screwed anyway.

She heard an outraged hiss, answered by two more hisses farther downhill. The two of them ran for the porch. Percy and Hazel pulled Frank up the steps. When they turned, she saw the other two

monsters circling in the grass, breathing fire and turning the hillside brown with their poisonous touch. They didn't seem able or willing to come closer to the store, but that wasn't much comfort to Daria. She'd lost her sword.

"You saved my life," Frank stared at Daria.

Daria gave him a puzzled glance, "What else was I going to do?" She took in their surroundings, looking for a possible exit. "We'll never get out of here,"

"Then we'd better go in." Hazel pointed to the hand-painted sign over the door: RAINBOW ORGANIC FOODS & LIFESTYLES.

Daria had no idea what that meant, but it sounded better than flaming poisonous snakes. She followed her friends inside.

As they stepped through the door, lights came on. Flute music started up like they'd walked onto a stage. The wide aisles were lined with bins of nuts and dried fruit, baskets of apples, and clothing racks with tie-dyed shirts and gauzy Tinker Bell-type dresses. The ceiling was covered in wind chimes. Along the walls, glass cases displayed crystal balls, geodes, macrame dream catchers, and a bunch of other strange stuff. Incense must have been burning somewhere. It smelled like a bouquet of flowers was on fire.

"Fortune-teller's shop?" Frank wondered.

"Hope not," Hazel muttered.

Percy leaned against her. He looked worse than ever, like he'd been hit with a sudden flu. His face glistened with sweat. "Sit down..." he muttered. "Maybe water."

"Yeah," Daria said. "Let's find you a place to rest."

The floorboards creaked under their feet. She navigated between two Neptune statue fountains.

A girl popped up from behind the granola bins. "Help you?"

Frank lurched backward, knocking over one of the fountains. A stone Neptune crashed to the floor. The sea god's head rolled off and water spewed out of his neck, spraying a rack of tie-dyed man satchels.

"Sorry!" Frank bent down to clean up the mess. He almost goosed the girl with his spear.

"Eep!" she said. "Hold it! It's okay!"

Frank straightened slowly, trying not to cause any more damage. Hazel looked mortified. Daria snickered. Percy turned a sickly shade of green as he stared at the decapitated statue of his dad.

The girl clapped her hands. The fountain dissolved into mist. The water evaporated. She turned to Frank. "Really, it's no problem. Those Neptune fountains are so grumpy-looking, they bum me out."

She reminded Daria of the college-age hikers she sometimes saw on her morning runs at Redwood Regional. She was short and muscular, with lace-up boots, cargo shorts, and a bright yellow T-shirt that read R.O.F.L. Rainbow Organic Foods & Lifestyles. She looked young, but her hair was frizzy white, sticking out on either side of her head like the white of a giant fried egg.

Daria took one glance at her face and somehow forgot how to speak. The girl's eyes were really distracting. The irises changed color from gray to black to white.

"Uh... sorry about the fountain," Frank managed. "We were just — "

"Oh, I know!" the girl said. "You want to browse. It's all right. Demigods are welcome. Take your time. You're not like those awful monsters. They just want to use the restroom and never buy anything!"

She snorted. Her eyes flashed with lightning. Daria saw Frank glance at Hazel to see if he'd imagined it, but Hazel looked just as surprised.

From the back of the store, a woman's voice called: "Fleecy? Don't scare the customers, now. Bring them here, will you?"

"Your name is Fleecy?" Hazel asked.

Fleecy giggled. "Well, in the language of the nebulae it's actually — " She made a series of crackling and blowing noises that reminded Daria of a thunderstorm giving way to a nice cold front. "But you can call me Fleecy."

"Nebulae. . ."Percy muttered in a daze. "Cloud nymphs."

Fleecy beamed. "Oh, I like this one! Usually no one knows about cloud nymphs. But dear me, he doesn't look so good. Come to the back. My boss wants to meet you. We'll get your friend fixed up."

Fleecy led them through the produce aisle, between rows of eggplants, kiwis, lotus fruit, and pomegranates. At the back of the store, behind a counter with an old-fashioned cash register, stood a middle-aged woman with olive skin, long black hair, rimless glasses, and a T-shirt that read: The Goddess Is Alive! She wore amber necklaces and turquoise rings. She smelled like rose petals.

"Hello!" She leaned over the counter, which was lined with dozens of little statues — waving Chinese cats, meditating Buddhas, Saint Francis bobble heads, and novelty dippy drinking birds with top hats. "So glad you're here. I'm Iris!"

Daria coughed. "Iris... the rainbow goddess?"

Iris made a face. "Well, that's my official job, yes. But I don't define myself by my corporate identity. In my spare time, I run this!" She gestured around her proudly. "The R.O.F.L. Co-op — an employee-run cooperative promoting healthy alternative lifestyles and organic foods."

Frank stared at her. "But you throw Ding Dongs at monsters."

Iris looked horrified. "Oh, they're not Ding Dongs." She rummaged under the counter and brought out a package of chocolate-covered cakes that looked exactly like Ding Dongs. "These are gluten-free, no-sugar-added, vitamin-enriched, soy-free, goat-milk-and-seaweed-based cupcake

simulations."

"All natural!" Fleecy chimed in.

"I stand corrected." Frank suddenly looked as queasy as Percy.

Iris smiled. "You should try one, Frank. You're lactose intolerant, aren't you?"

"How did you — "

"I know these things. Being the messenger goddess... well, I do learn a lot, hearing all the communications from the gods and so on." She tossed the cakes on the counter. "Besides, those monsters should be glad to have some healthy snacks. Always eating junk food and heroes. They're so unenlightened. I couldn't have them tramping through my store, tearing up things and disturbing our feng shui."

Percy leaned against the counter. He looked like he was going to throw up all over the goddess's feng shui. "Monsters marching south," he said with difficulty. "Going to destroy our camp. Couldn't you stop them?"

Daria noticed how he said 'our camp'. Perhaps Reyna hadn't been making an impulsive decision about Percy's leadership skills at all. Jason was still alive, surely that would change things. But Percy's loyalty was a personality that was sorely missing from the legion.

"Oh, I'm strictly nonviolent," Iris replied. "I can act in self-defense, but I won't be drawn into any more Olympian aggression, thank you very much. I've been reading about Buddhism. And Taoism. I haven't decided between them."

"But..." Hazel looked mystified. "Aren't you a Greek goddess?"

Iris crossed her arms. "Don't try to put me in a box, demigod! I'm not defined by my past."

"Urn, okay," Hazel said. "Could you at least help our friend here? I think he's sick."

Percy reached across the counter. For a second Daria was afraid he wanted the cupcakes. "Iris-message," he said. "Can you send one?"

Daria wasn't sure she'd heard right. "Iris-message?" Frank and Hazel looked just as confused.

"It's..." Percy faltered. "Isn't that something you do?"

Iris studied Percy more closely. "Interesting. You're from Camp Jupiter, and yet. ..Oh, I see. Juno is up to her tricks."

"Will someone tell me what that means?" Daria asked. She had never met the rainbow goddess before, she hadn't been there during that...meeting on Olympus.

Iris glanced at her assistant, Fleecy. They seemed to have a silent conversation. Then the goddess pulled a vial from behind the counter and sprayed some honeysuckle-smelling oil around Percy's face.

"There, that should balance your chakra. As for Iris-messages — that's an ancient way

of communication. The Greeks used it. The Romans never took to it — always relying on their road systems and giant eagles and whatnot. But yes, I imagine... Fleecy, could you give it a try?"

"Sure, boss!"

Iris winked at Frank. "Don't tell the other gods, but Fleecy handles most of my messages these days. She's wonderful at it, really, and I don't have time to answer all those requests personally. It messes up my i/i a."

"Your what?" Frank asked.

"Mmm. Fleecy, why don't you take Percy, Daria, and Hazel into the back? You can get them something to eat while you arrange their messages. And for Percy... yes, memory sickness. I imagine that old Polybotes... well, meeting him in a state of amnesia can't be good for a child of P — that is to

say, Neptune. Fleecy, give him a cup of green tea with organic honey and wheat germ and some of my medicinal powder number five. That should fix him up."

Hazel frowned. "What about Frank?"

Iris turned to him. She tilted her head quizzically, as if Frank were the biggest question in the room.

"Oh, don't worry," Iris said. "Frank and I have a lot to talk about."

Frank would've preferred to go with his friends, even if it meant he had to endure green tea with wheat germ. But Iris roped her arm through his and led him to a cafe table at a bay window. Frank set his spear on the floor. He sat across from Iris. Outside in the dark, the snake monsters restlessly patrolled the hillside, spewing fire and poisoning the grass.

"Frank, I know how you feel," Iris said. "I imagine that half-burned stick in your pocket gets heavier every day."

Frank couldn't breathe. His hand went instinctively to his coat. "How do you — ?"

"I told you. I know things. I was Juno's messenger for ages. I know why she gave you a reprieve."

"A reprieve?" Frank brought out the piece of firewood and unwrapped it from its cloth. As unwieldy as Mars's spear was, the piece of tinder was worse. Iris was right. It weighed him down.

"Juno saved you for a reason," the goddess said. "She wants you to serve her plan. If she hadn't appeared that day when you were a baby and warned your mother about the firewood, you would've died. You were born with too many gifts. That sort of power tends to burn out a mortal life."

"Too many gifts?" Frank felt his ears getting warm with anger. "I don't have any gifts!"

"That's not true, Frank." Iris swiped her hand in front of her like she was cleaning a windshield. A miniature rainbow appeared. "Think about it."

An image shimmered in the rainbow. Frank saw himself when he was four years old, running across Grandmother's backyard. His mother leaned out the window of the attic, high above, waving and calling to get his attention. Frank wasn't supposed to be in the backyard by himself. He didn't know why his mother was up in the attic, but she told him to stay by the house, not to go too far. Frank did exactly the opposite. He squealed with delight and ran to the edge of the woods, where he came face to face with a grizzly bear.

Until Frank saw that scene in the rainbow, the memory had been so hazy, he thought he'd dreamed it. Now he could appreciate just how surreal the experience had been. The bear regarded the little boy, and it was difficult to tell who was more startled. Then Frank's mother appeared at his side. There was no way she should have been able to get down from the attic so fast. She put herself between the bear and Frank and told him to run to the house. This time, Frank obeyed. When he turned at the back porch, he saw his mother coming out of the woods. The bear was gone.

Frank asked what had happened. His mother smiled. Mama Bear just needed directions, she said.

The scene in the rainbow changed. Frank saw himself as a six-year-old, curling up in his mother's lap even though he was much too big for that. His mother's long black hair was pulled back. Her arms were around him. She wore her rimless glasses that Frank always liked to steal, and her fuzzy gray fleece pullover that smelled like cinnamon. She was telling him stories about heroes, pretending they were all related to Frank: one was Xu Fu, who sailed in search of the elixir of life. The rainbow image had no sound, but Frank remembered his mother's words: He was your great- great-great-... She would poke Frank's stomach every time she said great-, dozens of times, until he was giggling uncontrollably.

Then there was Sung Guo, also called Seneca Gracchus, who fought twelve Roman dragons and sixteen Chinese dragons in the western deserts of China. He was the strongest dragon of all, you see, his mother said. That's how he could beat them! Frank didn't know what that meant, but it sounded exciting.

Then she poked his belly with so many greats, Frank rolled onto the floor to escape the tickling. And your very oldest ancestor that we know of: he was the Prince of Pylos! Hercules fought him once. It was a hard fight!

Did we win? Frank asked.

His mother laughed, but there was sadness in her voice. No, our ancestor lost. But it wasn't easy for Hercules. Imagine trying to fight a swarm of bees. That's how it was. Even Hercules had trouble!

The comment made no sense to Frank, then or now. His ancestor had been a beekeeper?

Frank hadn't thought about these stories in years, but now they came back to him as clearly as his mother's face. It hurt to see her again. Frank wanted to go back to that time. He wanted to be a little kid and curl up on her lap.

In the rainbow image, little Frank asked where their family was from. So many heroes! Were they from Pylos, or Rome, or China, or Canada?

His mother smiled, tilting her head as if considering how to answer.

Li-Jien, she said at last. Our family is from many places, but our home is Li-Jien. Always remember, Frank: you have a special gift. You can be anything.

The rainbow dissolved, leaving just Iris and Frank.

"I don't understand." His voice was hoarse.

"Your mother explained it," Iris said. "You can be anything."

It sounded like one of those stupid things parents say to boost your self-esteem — a worn-out slogan that could be printed on Iris's T-shirts, right along with The Goddess Is Alive! and My Other Car Is a Magic Carpet! But the way Iris said it, it sounded like a challenge.

Frank pressed his hand against his pants pocket, where he kept his mother's sacrifice medal. The silver medallion was cold as ice.

"I can't be anything," Frank insisted. "I've got zero skills."

"What have you tried?" Iris asked. "You wanted to be an archer. You managed that pretty well. You've only scratched the surface. Your friends Hazel, Daria, Percy — they're both stretched between worlds: Greek and Roman, the past and the present, dreams and reality. But you are stretched more than any of them. Your family is ancient — the blood of Pylos on your mother's side, and your father is Mars. No wonder Juno wants you to be one of her seven heroes. She wants you to fight the giants and Gaea. But think about this: What do you want?"

"I don't have any choice," Frank said. "I'm the son of the stupid war god. I have to go on this quest and — "

"Have to," Iris said. "Not want to. I used to think like that. Then I got tired of being everyone's servant. Fetch goblets of wine for Jupiter. Deliver letters for Juno. Send messages back and forth across the rainbow for anyone with a golden drachma."

"A golden what?"

''Not important. But I learned to let go. I started R.O.F.L., and now I'm free of that baggage. You can let go, too. Maybe you can't escape fate. Someday that piece of wood will burn. I foresee that you'll be holding it when it happens, and your life will end — "

"Thanks," Frank muttered.

" — but that just makes your life more precious! You don't have to be what your parents and your grandmother expect. You don't have to follow the war god's orders, or Juno's. Do your own thing, Frank! Find a new path!"

Frank thought about that. The idea was thrilling: reject the gods, his destiny, his dad. He didn't want to be a war god's son. His mother had died in a war. Frank had lost everything thanks to a war. Mars clearly didn't know the first thing about him. Frank didn't want to be a hero.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. "You want me to abandon the quest, let Camp Jupiter be destroyed? My friends are counting on me."

Iris spread her hands. "I can't tell you what to do, Frank.

But do what you want, not what they tell you to do. Where did conforming ever get me? I spent five millennia serving everyone else, and I never discovered my own identity. What's my sacred animal? No one bothered to give me one. Where are my temples? They never made any. Well, fine! I've found peace here at the co-op. You could stay with us, if you want. Become a ROFLcopter."

"A what, now?"

"The point is you have options. If you continue this quest. ..what happens when you free Thanatos? Will it be good for your family? Your friends?"

Frank remembered what his grandmother had said: she had an appointment with Death. Grandmother infuriated him sometimes; but still, she was his only living family, the only person alive who loved him. If Thanatos stayed chained up, Frank might not lose her. And Hazel — somehow she

had come back from the Underworld. If Death took her again, Frank wouldn't be able to stand it. Not to mention Frank's own problem: according to Iris, he should have died when he was a baby. All that stood between him and Death was a half-burned stick. Would Thanatos take him away, too?

Frank tried to imagine staying here with Iris, putting on a R.O.F.L. shirt, selling crystals and dream catchers to demigod travelers and lobbing gluten-free cupcake simulations at passing monsters. Meanwhile, an undying army would overrun Camp Jupiter.

You can be anything, his mother had said.

_No_, he thought. _I can't be that selfish. Plus, Daria would kill me._

"I have to go," he said. "It's my job."

Iris sighed. "I expected as much, but I had to try. The task ahead of you... Well, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, especially a nice boy like you. If you must go, at least I can offer some advice. You'll need help finding Thanatos."

"You know where the giants are hiding him?" Frank asked.

Iris gazed thoughtfully at the wind chimes swaying on the ceiling. "No... Alaska is beyond the gods' sphere of control. The location is shielded from my sight. But there is someone who would know. Seek out the seer Phineas. He's blind, but he can see the past, present, and future. He knows many things. He can tell you where Thanatos is being held."

"Phineas..." Frank said. "Wasn't there a story about him?"

Iris nodded reluctantly. "In the old days, he committed horrible crimes. He used his gift of sight for evil. Jupiter sent the harpies to plague him. The Argonauts — including your ancestor, by the way —"

"The prince of Pylos?"

Iris hesitated. "Yes, Frank. Though his gift, his story ... that you must discover on your own. Suffice it to say, the Argonauts drove away the harpies in exchange for Phineas's help. That was eons ago, but I understand Phineas has returned to the mortal world. You'll find him in Portland, Oregon, which is on your way north. But you must promise me one thing. If he's still plagued by harpies, do not kill them, no matter what Phineas promises you. Win his help some other way. The harpies are not evil. They're my sisters."

"Your sisters?"

"I know. I don't look old enough to be the harpies' sister, but it's true. And Frank. . .there's another problem. If you're determined to leave, you'll have to clear those basilisks off the hill."

"You mean the snakes?"

"Yes," Iris said. "Basilisk means 'little crown,' which is a cute name for something that's not very cute. I'd prefer not to have them killed. They're living creatures, after all. But you won't be able to leave until they're gone. If your friends try to battle them... well, I foresee bad things happening. Daria might've stood a chance, but now she doesn't have her weapon. Only you have the ability to kill the monsters."

"But how?"

She glanced down at the floor. Frank realized that she was looking at his spear.

"I wish there was another way," she said. "If you had some weasels, for instance. Weasels are deadly to basilisks."

"Fresh out of weasels," Frank admitted.

"Then you will have to use your father's gift. Are you sure you wouldn't like to live here instead? We make excellent lactose-free rice milk."

Frank rose. "How do I use the spear?"

"You'll have to handle that on your own. I can't advocate violence. While you're doing battle, I'll check on your friends. I hope Fleecy found the right medicinal herbs. The last time, we had a mix-up.. . .Well, I don't think those heroes wanted to be daisies."

The goddess stood. Her glasses flashed, and Frank saw his own reflection in the lenses. He looked serious and grim, nothing like the little boy he'd seen in those rainbow images.

"One last bit of advice, Frank," she said. "You're destined to die holding that piece of firewood, watching it burn. But perhaps if you didn't keep it yourself. Perhaps if you trusted someone enough to hold it for you. . ."

Frank's fingers curled around the tinder. "Are you offering?"

Iris laughed gently. "Oh, dear, no. I'd lose it in this collection. It would get mixed up with my crystals, or I'd sell it as a driftwood paperweight by accident. No, I meant a demigod friend. Someone close to your heart."

_Hazel_, Frank thought immediately. There was no one he trusted more. But how could he confess his secret? If he admitted how weak he was, that his whole life depended on a half-burned stick. ..Hazel would never see him as a hero. He'd never be her knight in armor. And how could he expect her to take that kind of burden from him?

He wrapped up the tinder and slipped it back into his coat. "Thanks ... thanks, Iris."

She squeezed his hand. "Don't lose hope, Frank. Rainbows always stand for hope."

She made her way toward the back of the store, leaving Frank alone.

"Hope," Frank grumbled. "I'd rather have a few good weasels."

He picked up his father's spear and marched out to face the basilisks.

* * *

Sorry for this super filler chapter. I promise more original content in the chapter to come but I hope you enjoy Daria's character. 1 review please :)

~M


	9. eight

"Oh by the way," Iris said, appearing after several minutes. "Frank is fine. He's just fighting the basilisks, he'll be right back.."

"He's what?" Hazel gasped, pelting towards the clearing. Percy, who was feeling much better thanks for asking, and Daria were right at her heels. They ran into the clearing, Percy's tye-dye fanny pack bouncing on his body. Riptide was in his hand. Hazel had drawn her spatha.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Percy turned in a circle, looking for enemies. "Iris told us you were out here battling the basilisks by yourself, and we were like, What? We came as fast as we could. What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Frank admitted.

Hazel crouched next to the dirt where Gray disappeared. "I sense death. Either my brother has been here or. ..the basilisks are dead?"

Daria stared at him in awe. Or maybe it was more like surprise. "You killed them all?"

Frank looked like he was trying to swallow a baseball, grumbling something about gray skeletons.

"What?" Hazel asked. "Frank, are you okay?"

"I'll explain later," he said. "Right now, there's a blind man in Portland we've got to see."

Percy already felt like the lamest demigod in the history of lame. The purse was the final insult.

They'd left R.O.F.L. in a hurry, so maybe Iris hadn't meant the bag as a criticism. She'd quickly stuffed it with vitamin-enriched pastries, dried fruit leather, macrobiotic beef jerky, and a few crystals for good luck.

Then she'd shoved it at Percy: Here, you'll need this. Oh, that looks good. The purse — sorry, masculine accessory bag — was rainbow tie-dyed with a peace symbol stitched in wooden beads and the slogan Hug the Whole World. Percy wished it said Hug the Commode. He felt like the bag was a comment on his massive, incredible uselessness. As they sailed north, he put the man satchel as far away from him as he could, but the boat was small.

He couldn't believe how he'd broken down when his friends had needed him. First, he'd been dumb enough to leave them alone when he had run back to the boat (although he could also blame that on Daria), and Hazel had gotten kidnapped. Then he'd watched that army marching south and had some kind of nervous breakdown.

Embarrassing? Yeah. But he couldn't help it. When he'd seen those evil centaurs and Cyclopes, it had seemed so wrong, so backward, that he thought his head would explode. And the giant Polybotes... that giant had given him a feeling the opposite of what he felt when he stood in the ocean. Percy's energy had drained out of him, leaving him weak and feverish, like his insides were eroding.

Iris's medicinal tea had helped his body feel better, but his mind still hurt. He'd heard stories about amputees who had phantom pains where their missing legs and arms used to be. That's how his mind felt — like his missing memories were aching.

Worst of all, the farther north Percy went, the more those memories faded. He had started to feel better at Camp Jupiter, remembering random names and faces. But now even Annabeth's face was getting dimmer. At R.O.F.L., when he'd tried to send an Iris-message to Annabeth, Fleecy had just shaken her head sadly.

_It's like you're dialing somebody_, she said, _but you've forgotten the number. Or someone is jamming the signal. Sorry, dear. I just can't connect you. _

He was terrified that he'd lose Annabeth's face completely when he got to Alaska. Maybe he'd wake up one day and not remember her name.

Still, he had to concentrate on the quest. The sight of that enemy army had shown him what they were up against. It was early in the morning of June 21, now. They had to get to Alaska, find Thanatos, locate the legion's standard, and make it back to Camp Jupiter by the evening of June 24. Four days. Meanwhile, the enemy had only a few hundred miles to march.

Percy guided the boat through the strong currents off the northern California coast. The wind was cold, but it felt good, clearing some of the confusion from his head. He bent his will to push the boat as hard as he could. The hull rattled as the Pax plowed its way north.

Meanwhile, Hazel and Frank traded stories about the events at Rainbow Organic Foods. Frank explained about the blind seer Phineas in Portland, and how Iris had said that he might be able to tell them where to find Thanatos. Frank wouldn't say how he had managed to kill the basilisks, but Percy got the feeling it had something to do with the broken point of his spear. Whatever had happened, Frank sounded more scared of the spear than the basilisks.

When he was done, Hazel told Frank about their time with Fleecy.

"So this Iris-message worked?" Frank asked.

Hazel gave Percy a sympathetic look. She didn't mention his failure to contact Annabeth.

"I got in touch with Reyna," Daria said. "You're supposed to throw a coin into a rainbow and say this incantation, like O Iris, goddess of the rainbow accept my offering. Except Fleecy kind of changed it. She gave us her — what did she call it — her direct number? So I had to say, O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show Reyna at Camp Jupiter. I felt kind of stupid, but it worked. Reyna's image appeared in the rainbow, like in a two-way video call. She was in the baths. Scared her out of her mind."

"That I would've paid to see," Frank said. "I mean — her expression. Not, you know, the baths."

"Frank!" Hazel fanned her face like she needed air. It was an old-fashioned gesture, but cute, somehow. "Anyway, we told Reyna about the army, but like Percy said, she pretty much already knew. It doesn't change anything. She's doing what she can to shore up the defenses. Unless we unleash Death, and get back with the eagle — "

"The camp can't stand against that army," Frank finished. "Not without help."

After that, they sailed in silence.

Percy kept thinking about Cyclopes and centaurs. He thought about Annabeth, the satyr Grover, and his dream of a giant warship under construction.

_You came from somewhere_, Reyna had said.

Percy wished he could remember. He could call for help. Camp Jupiter shouldn't have to fight alone against the giants. There must be allies out there.

He fingered the beads on his necklace, the lead tablet, and the silver ring Reyna had given him. Maybe in Seattle he'd be able to talk to her sister Hylla. She might send help — assuming she didn't kill them on sight.

After a few more hours of navigating, Percy's eyes started to droop. He was afraid he'd pass out from exhaustion. Then he caught a break. A killer whale surfaced next to the boat, and Percy struck up a mental conversation with him.

It wasn't exactly like talking, but it went something like this: _Could you give us a ride north, _Percy asked, _like as close to Portland as possible? _

_Eat seals_, the whale responded. _Are you seals? _

_No_, Percy admitted. _I've got a man satchel full of macrobiotic beef jerky, though. _

The whale shuddered. _Promise not to feed me this, and I will take you north. _

_Deal._

He nodded at Daria, whose eyes looked a lot more bright now that she knew her boyfriend was alive. He knew that Frank and Hazel didn't quite accept that she had joined their quest yet. According to them, she had always kept to the First Cohort, to Michael Kahale or Reyna. She had been polite, but that was it. _And ever since Jason disappeared_, Hazel had said, _Daria had closed herself off from everyone._

But Percy trusted her. She was quiet but sarcastic, and an excellent fighter. And with her newfound determination, there was something...electric about her. He could see why so many people at Camp Jupiter respected her. So yeah, he trusted her. Even if she would sometimes tense up at past memories or silent noises. Percy Jackson respected the hell out of his cousin.

But she was still a little brat sometimes.

"Stop staring off into nothing, lover boy," she snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Come on, what would we ever do without the mighty son of Neptune?" she put her hand on her forehead for drama's sake, "how would we continue?"

Frank and Hazel watched on in amusement.

"Oh, I'm the loverboy?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "Ever since that cyclops said Jason's name you've been glowing. Apollo's jealous."

"It's Helios, dumbass." Daria retorted. "He's the sun guy."

"No he isn't."

"Yes he is."

"Brat."

"Jerk," she pouted with a small smile on her face. "Anyway, get some rest. You too, Frank. Hazel and I have got this, right?"

"Absolutely." Hazel grinned. "Girl power."

"Damn straight," Daria agreed. "Night night."

Well, he couldn't argue with that. Shrugging at Frank, Percy used his brand-new man purse as a pillow and passed out.

"So Hazel," Daria hummed as the boat churned along the Pacific. "Tell me about your past. How did Nico find you?" It was a tactical question, one that she already kind of knew the answer to, but she asked it anyway.

Hazel glanced at her fleetingly, "I'm sure he already told you."

Daria laughed, "Please. Since when does Nico Di Angelo tell me anything? Or anyone anything?"

She bit her lip, "I told Frank, well, he figured it out actually. But um," she made eye contact with Daria and the older girl saw what she saw in so many people's faces when they talked to her. This overwhelming need for Daria to respect them. Jason used to say there was something magnetic about her; something that forced people to open up.

"I'm not from this time period," Hazel confessed. "I uh," the poor girl looked like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulder. "Well Nico brought me back from the Underworld, where you know, I wasn't alive."

Daria nodded, "Thanks for telling me." She rested her hand on Hazel's. "We'll get through this quest together, all of us. There's a lot more coming and I want you by my side for it Hazel." She spoke with determination in her voice, the only thing flowing out of her was the truth. "Frankly, you're one of the most intriguing demigods I've met... and I think you're capable of more than you think you are." She paused for a second, "we're friends right?"

Hazel smiled at that, a wide grin that Daria had never seen aimed at her before. "Yes, I think so."

"Well, that's good." Daria hummed. "I need someone to keep me sane."

"And someone to talk to about Jason?" Hazel teased.

She blushed lightly, "That too."

They drifted back into a comfortable silence as the lights of a city appeared through the fog. "Better wake them up," Daria suggested. "That's Portland."

"I thought I slept heavily," Hazel said. "Welcome to Portland."

Percy sat up and blinked. The scene around him was so different from his dream, he wasn't sure which was real. The Pax floated on an iron-black river through the middle of a city. Heavy clouds hung low overhead. The cold rain was so light, it seemed suspended in the air. On Percy's left were industrial warehouses and railroad tracks. To his right was a small downtown area — an almost cozy-looking cluster of towers between the banks of the river and a line of misty forested hills.

Percy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "How did we get here?"

Daria gave him a look like, _You won't believe this._ "The killer whale took us as far as the Columbia River. Then he passed the harness to a couple of twelve-foot sturgeons."

Percy thought Daria had said surgeons. He had this weird image of giant doctors in scrubs and face masks, pulling their boat upstream. Then he realized she meant sturgeons, like the fish. He was glad he hadn't said anything. Would have been embarrassing, his being son of the sea god and all.

"Anyway," Daria continued, "the sturgeons pulled us for a long time. Then we hit this river — "

"The Willamette," Hazel offered.

"Right," Daria said. "After that, the boat kind of took over and navigated us here all by itself. Sleep okay?"

As the Pax glided south, Percy told them about his dreams. He tried to focus on the positive: a warship might be on the way to help Camp Jupiter. A friendly Cyclops and a giant dog were looking for him. He didn't mention what Gaea had said: _Your friends will die_.

When Percy described the Roman fort on the ice, Hazel looked troubled.

"So Alcyoneus is on a glacier," she said. "That doesn't narrow it down much. Alaska has hundreds of those."

Percy nodded. "Maybe this seer dude Phineas can tell us which one."

The boat docked itself at a wharf. The four demigods stared up at the buildings of drizzly downtown Portland.

Frank wiped the rain off his flat-top hair.

"So now we find a blind man in the rain," Frank said.

"I hate rain." Daria grumbled. She was shivering despite the coat she was wearing. Sometimes, Percy forgot how small the 5-foot girl really was.

Finding Phineas wasn't as hard as they thought. The screaming and the weed whacker helped.

They'd brought lightweight Polartec jackets with their supplies, so they bundled up against the cold rain and walked for a few blocks through the mostly deserted streets. This time Percy was smart and brought most of his supplies from the boat. He even stuffed the macrobiotic jerky in his coat pocket, in case he needed to threaten any more killer whales.

They saw some bicycle traffic and a few homeless guy shuddled in doorways, but the majority of Portlanders seemed to be staying indoors.

As they made their way down Glisan Street, Percy looked longingly at the folks in the cafes enjoying coffee and pastries. He was about to suggest that they stop for breakfast when he heard a voice down the street yelling: "HA! TAKE THAT, STUPID CHICKENS!" followed by the revving of a small engine and a lot of squawking.

Percy glanced at his friends. "You think — ?"

"Probably," Frank agreed.

They ran toward the sounds.

The next block over, they found a big open parking lot with tree-lined sidewalks and rows of food trucks facing the streets on all four sides. Percy had seen food trucks before, but never so many in once place. Some were simple white metal boxes on wheels, with awnings and serving counters. Others were painted blue or purple or polka-dotted, with big banners out front and colorful menu boards and tables like do-it-yourself sidewalk cafes. One advertised Korean/Brazilian fusion tacos, which sounded like some kind of top-secret radioactive cuisine. Another offered sushi on a stick. A third was selling deep-fried ice cream sandwiches. The smell was amazing — dozens of different kitchens cooking at once.

Percy's stomach rumbled. Most of the food carts were open for business, but there was hardly anyone around. They could get anything they wanted! Deep-fried ice cream sandwiches? Oh, man, that sounded way better than wheat germ.

Unfortunately, there was more happening than just cooking. In the center of the lot, behind all the food trucks, an old man in a bathrobe was running around with a weed whacker, screaming at a flock of bird-ladies who were trying to steal food off a picnic table.

"Harpies," said Hazel. "Which means — "

"That's Phineas," Frank guessed.

They ran across the street and squeezed between the Korean/Brazilian truck and a Chinese egg roll burrito vendor.

The backs of the food trucks weren't nearly as appetizing as the fronts. They were cluttered with stacks of plastic buckets, overflowing garbage cans, and makeshift clotheslines hung with wet aprons and towels. The parking lot itself was nothing but a square of cracked asphalt, marbled with weeds. In the middle was a picnic table piled high with food from all the different trucks.

The guy in the bathrobe was old and fat. He was mostly bald, with scars across his forehead and a rim of stringy white hair. His bathrobe was spattered with ketchup, and he kept stumbling around in fuzzy pink bunny slippers, swinging his gas-powered weed whacker at the half-dozen harpies who were hovering over his picnic table.

He was clearly blind. His eyes were milky white, and usually he missed the harpies by a lot, but he was still doing a pretty good job fending them off.

"Back, dirty chickens!" he bellowed.

"This looks fun," Daria muttered next to Percy. She kept her voice low enough that Phineas couldn't hear her.

Percy wasn't sure why, but he had a vague sense that harpies were supposed to be plump. These looked like they were starving. Their human faces had sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. Their bodies were covered in molting feathers, and their wings were tipped with tiny, shriveled hands.

They wore ragged burlap sacks for dresses. As they dived for the food, they seemed more desperate than angry. Percy felt sorry for them.

WHIRRRR! The old man swung his weed whacker. He grazed one of the harpies' wings. The harpy yelped in pain and fluttered off, dropping yellow feathers as she flew.

Another harpy circled higher than the rest. She looked younger and smaller than the others, with bright-red feathers.

She watched carefully for an opening, and when the old man's back was turned, she made a wild dive for the table. She grabbed a burrito in her clawed feet, but before she could escape, the blind man swung his weed whacker and smacked her in the back so hard, Percy winced. The harpy yelped, dropped the burrito, and flew off.

"Hey, stop it!" Percy yelled.

The harpies took that the wrong way. They glanced over at the three demigods and immediately fled. Most of them fluttered away and perched in the trees around the square, staring dejectedly at the picnic table. The red-feathered one with the hurt back flew unsteadily down Glisan Street and out of sight.

"Ha!" The blind man yelled in triumph and killed the power on his weed whacker. He grinned vacantly in Percy's direction. "Thank you, strangers! Your help is most appreciated."

Percy bit back his anger. He hadn't meant to help the old man, but he remembered that they needed information from him. His friends looked as pissed off as he did, and he didn't trust Daria to keep quiet about her emotions. Percy started talking before she had the chance.

"Uh, whatever." He approached the old guy, keeping one eye on the weed whacker. "I'm Percy Jackson. This is — "

"Demigods!" the old man said. "I can always smell demigods."

Hazel frowned. "Do we smell that bad?"

The old man laughed. "Of course not, my dear. But you'd be surprised how sharp my other senses became once I was blinded. I'm Phineas. And you — wait, don't tell me — "

He reached for Percy's face and poked him in the eyes.

"Ow!" Percy complained.

"Son of Neptune!" Phineas exclaimed. "I thought I smelled the ocean on you, Percy Jackson. I'm also a son of Neptune, you know."

"Hey... yeah. Okay." Percy rubbed his eyes. Just his luck he was related to this grubby old dude. He hoped all sons of Neptune didn't share the same fate. First, you start carrying a man satchel. Next thing you know, you're running around in a bathrobe and pink bunny slippers, chasing chickens with a weed whacker.

Phineas turned to Hazel. "And here... Oh my, the smell of gold and deep earth. Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto. And next to you — the son of Mars. But there's more to your story, Frank Zhang — "

"Ancient blood," Frank muttered. "Prince of Pylos. Blah, blah, blah."

"Periclymenus, exactly! Oh, he was a nice fellow. I loved the Argonauts!"

Frank's mouth fell open. "W-wait. Periclymenus?"

Phineas grinned. "Don't worry. I know about your family. That story about your great-grandfather? He didn't really destroy the camp. And you dear," he turned to Daria. "How peculiar," he reached his hand out to poke her like he did to Percy.

"Do _not_ touch me," Daria growled.

"Hmph," Phineas pouted. "Her children are always so grouchy."

Now Daria was interested, she narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean _her_ children?"

"Well now you don't get to know," Phineas said loftily. "Are you hungry?"

Daria looked like she'd been run over by a truck, but Phineas had already moved on to other matters. He waved his hand at the picnic table. In the nearby trees, the harpies shrieked miserably. As hungry as Percy was, he couldn't stand to think about eating with those poor bird ladies watching him.

"Look, I'm confused," Percy said. "We need some information. We were told — "

" — that the harpies were keeping my food away from me," Phineas finished, "and if you helped me, I'd help you."

"Something like that," Percy admitted.

Phineas laughed. "That's old news. Do I look like I'm missing any meals?"

He patted his belly, which was the size of an overinflated basketball.

"Urn ... no," Percy said.

Phineas waved his weed whacker in an expansive gesture. All four of them ducked.

"Things have changed, my friends!" he said. "When I first got the gift of prophecy, eons ago, it's true Jupiter cursed me. He sent the harpies to steal my food. You see, I had a bit of a big mouth. I gave away too many secrets that the gods wanted kept." He turned to Hazel. "For instance, you're supposed to be dead. And you — " He turned to Frank. "Your life depends on a burned stick."

Daria's hands were shaking in front of Percy as Phineas turned to her, "You're full of secrets, aren't you? Tell me, when am I going to die? Your friend over here?" He pointed at Hazel, then Frank, "this one?"

Percy frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Hazel blinked like she'd been slapped; Frank sucker-punched. Daria looked like the truck had backed up and run over her again.

"And you," Phineas turned to Percy, "well now, you don't even know who you are! I could tell you, of course, but. . .ha! What fun would that be? And Brigid O'Shaughnessy shot Miles Archer in The Maltese Falcon. And Darth Vader is actually Luke's father. And the winner of the next Super Bowl will be — "

"Got it," Frank muttered.

Hazel gripped her sword like she was tempted to pommel-whip the old man. "So you talked too much, and the gods cursed you. Why did they stop?"

"Oh, they didn't!" The old man arched his bushy eyebrows like, _Can you believe it_? "I had to make a deal with the Argonauts. They wanted information too, you see. I told them to kill the harpies, and I'd cooperate. Well, they drove those nasty creatures away, but Iris wouldn't let them kill the harpies. An outrage! So this time, when my patron brought me back to life — "

"Your patron?" Daria asked. Her hands still hadn't stopped shaking but she didn't seem concerned, as if it happened often. Daria looked more preoccupied with whatever Phineas had said earlier...what was it? When he was going to die? How would she know? Hazel was the daughter of Pluto, not Daria.

Phineas gave him a wicked grin. "Why, Gaea, of course. Who do you think opened the Doors of Death? Your curly-haired friend here understands. Isn't Gaea your patron, too?"

Hazel drew her sword. "I'm- I don't — Gaea is not my patron!"

Phineas looked amused. If he had heard the sword being drawn, he didn't seem concerned. "Fine, if you want to be noble and stick with the losing side, that's your business. But Gaea is waking. She's already rewritten the rules of life and death! I'm alive again, and in exchange for my help — a prophecy here, a prophecy there — I get my fondest wish. The tables have been turned, so to speak. Now I can eat all I want, all day long, and the harpies have to watch and starve."

He revved his weed whacker, and the harpies wailed in the trees.

"They're cursed!" the old man said. "They can eat only food from my table, and they can't leave Portland. Since the Doors of Death are open, they can't even die. It's beautiful!"

"Beautiful?" Frank protested. "They're living creatures. Why are you so mean to them?"

"They're monsters!" Phineas said. "And mean ? Those feather-brained demons tormented me for years!"

"But it was their duty," Percy said, trying to control himself. "Jupiter ordered them to."

"Oh, I'm mad at Jupiter, too," Phineas agreed. "In time, Gaea will see that the gods are properly punished. Horrible job they've done, ruling the world. But for now, I'm enjoying Portland. The mortals take no notice of me. They think I'm just a crazy old man shooing away pigeons!"

Hazel advanced on the seer. "You're awful!" she told Phineas. "You belong in the Fields of Punishment!"

Phineas sneered. "One dead person to another, girlie? I wouldn't be talking. You started this whole thing! If it weren't for you, Alcyoneus wouldn't be alive!"

Hazel stumbled back.

"Hazel?" Frank's eyes got as wide as quarters. "What's he talking about?"

"Ha!" Phineas said. "You'll find out soon enough, Frank Zhang. Then we'll see if you're still sweet on your girlfriend. But that's not what you're here about, is it? You want to find Thanatos. He's being kept at Alcyoneus's lair. I can tell you where that is. Of course I can. But you'll have to do me a favor."

"Forget it," Daria snapped. "You're working for the enemy. We should send you back to the Underworld ourselves."

"You could try." Phineas smiled. "But I doubt I'd stay dead very long. You see, Gaea has shown me the easy way back. And with Thanatos in chains, there's no one to keep me down! I'd be careful about calling her the enemy, especially you. Besides, if you kill me, you won't get my secrets."

Percy was tempted to let Hazel use her sword. In fact, he wanted to strangle the old man himself.

_Camp Jupiter_, he told himself. Saving the camp is more important. He remembered Alcyoneus taunting him in his dreams. If they wasted time searching through Alaska looking for the giant's lair, Gaea's armies would destroy the Romans... and Percy's other friends, wherever they were.

He gritted his teeth. "What's the favor?"

Phineas licked his lips greedily. "There's one harpy who's quicker than the rest."

"The red one," Percy guessed.

"I'm blind! I don't know colors!" the old man groused. "At any rate, she's the only one I have trouble with. She's wily, that one. Always does her own thing, never roosts with the others. She gave me these."

He pointed at the scars on his forehead.

"Capture that harpy," he said. "Bring her to me. I want her tied up where I can keep an eye on her... ah, so to speak. Harpies hate being tied up. It causes them extreme pain. Yes, I'll enjoy that. Maybe I'll even feed her so that she lasts longer."

Percy looked at his friends. They came to a silent agreement: they would never help this creepy old man. On the other hand, they had to get his information. They needed a Plan B.

"Oh, go talk among yourselves," Phineas said breezily. "I don't care. Just remember that without my help, your quest will fail. And everyone you love in the world will die. Now, off with you! Bring me a harpy!"

* * *

Intruiging, huh? Anyway if I could have two reviews before next week that would be amazing!

~M


	10. nine

"We'll need some of your food." Percy shouldered his way around the old man and snatched stuff off the picnic table — a covered bowl of Thai noodles in mac-and-cheese sauce, and a tubular pastry that looked like a combination burrito and cinnamon roll.

Before he could lose control and smash the burrito in Phineas's face, Percy said, "Come on, guys." He led his friends out of the parking lot. They stopped across the street. Percy took a deep breath, trying to calm down. The rain had slowed to a halfhearted drizzle. The cold mist felt good on his face.

"That man..." Hazel smacked the side of a bus-stop bench. "He needs to die. Again."

It was hard to tell in the rain, but she seemed to be blinking back tears. Her long curly hair was plastered down the sides of her face. In the gray light, her gold eyes looked more like tin.

Percy remembered how confident she'd acted when they first met — taking control of the situation with the gorgons and ushering him to safety. She'd comforted him at the shrine of Neptune and made him feel welcome at camp.

Now he wanted to return the favor, but he wasn't sure how. She looked lost, bedraggled, and thoroughly depressed.

Percy wasn't surprised that she had come back from the Underworld. He'd suspected that for a while — the way she avoided talking about her past, the way Nico di Angelo had been so secretive and cautious.

But that didn't change how Percy saw her. She seemed... well, alive, like a regular kid with a good heart, who deserved to grow up and have a future. She wasn't a ghoul like Phineas.

"We'll get him," Percy promised. "He's nothing like you, Hazel. I don't care what he says."

She shook her head. "You don't know the whole story. I should have been sent to Punishment. I — I'm just as bad — "

"No, you're not!" Frank balled his fists. He looked around like he was searching for anybody who might disagree with him — enemies he could hit for Hazel's sake. "She's a good person!" he yelled across the street. A few harpies squawked in the trees, but no one else paid them any attention.

Hazel stared at Frank. She reached out tentatively, as if she wanted to take his hand but was afraid he might evaporate.

"Frank..." she stammered. "I — I don't..."

Unfortunately, Frank seemed wrapped up in his own thoughts.

He slung his spear off his back and gripped it uneasily.

"I could intimidate that old man," he offered, "maybe scare him — "

"No," Daria said, taking a deep breath. She looked like she was trying to steady herself; like she was about to fall over if left alone with her thoughts for too long. It took one look at Hazel and Frank's faces to see that neither of them had ever seen her this disoriented and neither of them knew what to do." It's okay," Daria continued. "Let's keep that as a backup plan, but I don't think Phineas can be scared into cooperating. Besides, you've only got two more uses out of the spear, right?"

Frank scowled at the dragon' s-tooth point, which had grown back completely overnight. "Yeah. I guess..."

Percy wasn't sure what the old seer had meant about Frank's family history — his great-grandfather destroying camp, his Argonaut ancestor, and the bit about a burned stick controlling Frank's life. But it had clearly shaken Frank up. Percy decided not to ask for explanations. He didn't want the big guy reduced to tears, especially in front of Hazel.

"I've got an idea." Percy pointed up the street. "The red-feathered harpy went that way. Let's see if we can get her to talk to us."

Hazel looked at the food in his hands. "You're going to use that as bait?"

"More like a peace offering," Percy said. "Come on. Just try to keep the other harpies from stealing this stuff, okay?"

Percy uncovered the Thai noodles and unwrapped the cinnamon burrito. Fragrant steam wafted into the air. They walked down the street, Hazel, Daria, and Frank with their weapons out. The harpies fluttered after them, perching on trees, mailboxes, and flagpoles, following the smell of food.

Percy wondered what the mortals saw through the Mist. Maybe they thought the harpies were pigeons and the weapons were lacrosse sticks or something. Maybe they just thought the Thai mac and cheese was so good it needed an armed escort.

Percy kept a tight grip on the food. He'd seen how quickly the harpies could snatch things. He didn't want to lose his peace offering before he found the red-feathered harpy.

Finally, he spotted her, circling above a stretch of parkland that ran for several blocks between rows of old stone buildings. Paths stretched through the park under huge maple and elm trees, past sculptures and playgrounds and shady benches. The place reminded Percy of. ..some other park. Maybe in his hometown? He couldn't remember, but it made him feel homesick.

They crossed the street and found a bench to sit on, next to a big bronze sculpture of an elephant.

"Looks like Hannibal," Hazel said.

"Except it's Chinese," Frank said. "My grandmother has one of those." He flinched. "I mean, hers isn't twelve feet tall. But she imports stuff... from China. We're Chinese." He looked at his friends, who were trying hard not to laugh. "Could I just die from embarrassment now?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it, man," Percy said. "Let's see if we can make friends with the harpy."

He raised the Thai noodles and fanned the smell upward — spicy peppers and cheesy goodness. The red harpy circled lower.

"We won't hurt you," Percy called up in a normal voice. "We just want to talk. Thai noodles for a chance to talk, okay?"

The harpy streaked down in a flash of red and landed on the elephant statue. She was painfully thin. Her feathery legs were like sticks. Her face would have been pretty except for her sunken cheeks. She moved in jerky birdlike twitches, her coffee-brown eyes darting restlessly, her fingers clawing at her plumage, her earlobes, her shaggy red hair.

"Cheese," she muttered, looking sideways. "Ella doesn't like cheese."

Percy hesitated. "Your name is Ella?"

"Ella. Aella. 'Harpy.' In English. In Latin. Ella doesn't like cheese." She said all that without taking a breath or making eye contact. Her hands snatched at her hair, her burlap dress, the raindrops, whatever moved.

Quicker than Percy could blink, she lunged, snatched the cinnamon burrito, and appeared atop the elephant again.

"Gods, she's fast!" Hazel said.

"And heavily caffeinated," Daria guessed.

Ella sniffed the burrito. She nibbled at the edge and shuddered from head to foot, cawing like she was dying. "Cinnamon is good," she pronounced. "Good for harpies. Yum."

She started to eat, but the bigger harpies swooped down. Before Percy could react, they began pummeling Ella with their wings, snatching at the burrito.

"Nnnnnnooo." Ella tried to hide under her wings as her sisters ganged up on her, scratching with their claws. "N-no," she stuttered. "N-n-no!"

"Stop it!" Percy yelled. He and his friends ran to help, but it was too late. A big yellow harpy grabbed the burrito and the whole flock scattered, leaving Ella cowering and shivering on top of the elephant.

Hazel touched the harpy's foot. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Ella poked her head out of her wings. She was still trembling. With her shoulders hunched, Percy could see the bleeding gash on her back where Phineas had hit her with the weed whacker. She picked at her feathers, pulling out tufts of plumage. "S-small Ella," she stuttered angrily. "W- weak Ella. No cinnamon for Ella. Only cheese."

Frank glared across the street, where the other harpies were sitting in a maple tree, tearing the burrito to shreds. "We'll get you something else," he promised.

Percy set down the Thai noodles. He realized that Ella was different, even for a harpy. But after watching her get picked on, he was sure of one thing: whatever else happened, he was going to help her.

"Ella," he said, "we want to be your friends. We can get you more food, but — "

"Friends," Ella said. "Ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.'" She glanced sideways at Percy, then looked in the air and started reciting to the clouds.

'"A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds.' Sixteen. You're sixteen. Page sixteen, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 'Ingredients: Bacon, Butter.'"

Percy's ears were ringing. He felt dizzy, like he'd just plunged a hundred feet underwater and back up again. "Ella... what was that you said?"

'"Bacon."' She caught a raindrop out of the air. "'Butter.'"

"No, before that. Those lines... I know those lines."

Next to him, Daria shivered. "It does sound familiar, like... I don't know, like a prophecy. Maybe it's something she heard Phineas say?"

At the name Phineas, Ella squawked in terror and flew away.

"Wait!" Daria called. "I didn't mean — Oh, gods, I'm stupid."

"It's all right." Frank pointed. "Look."

Ella wasn't moving as quickly now. She flapped her way to the top of a three-story red brick building and scuttled out of sight over the roof. A single red feather fluttered down to the street.

"You think that's her nest?" Frank squinted at the sign on the building. "Multnomah County Library?"

Percy nodded. "Let's see if it's open."

They ran across the street and into the lobby.

A library wouldn't have been Percy's first choice for someplace to visit. With his dyslexia, he had enough trouble reading signs. A whole building full of books? That sounded about as much fun as Chinese water torture or getting his teeth extracted.

As they jogged through the lobby, Percy figured Annabeth would like this place. It was spacious and brightly lit, with big vaulted windows. Books and architecture, that was definitely her...

He froze in his tracks.

"Percy?" Frank asked. "What's wrong?"

Percy tried desperately to concentrate. Where had those thoughts come from? Architecture, books... Annabeth had taken him to the library once, back home in — in — The memory faded. Percy slammed his fist into the side of a bookshelf.

"Percy?" Hazel asked gently.

He was so angry, so frustrated with his missing memories that he wanted to punch another bookshelf, but his friends' concerned faces brought him back to the present.

"I'm — I'm all right," he lied. "Just got dizzy for a sec. Let's find a way to the roof."

Daria raised her eyebrow condescendingly but he didn't care. If she wanted to start an argument about him hiding things, Phineas had made it very clear...She had the most secrets out of all of them. And Percy intended to find out exactly what they were.

It took them a while, but they finally found a stairwell with roof access. At the top was a door with a handle alarm, but someone had propped it open with a copy of War and Peace.

Outside, Ella the harpy huddled in a nest of books under a makeshift cardboard shelter.

Percy and his friends advanced slowly, trying not to scare her. Ella didn't pay them any attention. She picked at her feathers and muttered under her breath, like she was practicing lines for a play.

Percy got within five feet and knelt down. "Hi. Sorry we scared you. Look, I don't have much food, but..."

He took some of the macrobiotic jerky out of his pocket. Ella lunged and snatched it immediately. She huddled back in her nest, sniffing the jerky, but sighed and tossed it away. "N-not from his table. Ella cannot eat. Sad. Jerky would be good for harpies."

"Not from...Oh, right," Percy said. "That's part of the curse. You can only eat his food."

"There has to be a way," Hazel said.

"'Photosynthesis,'" Ella muttered. '"Noun. Biology. The synthesis of complex organic materials.' 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... '"

"What is she saying?" Frank whispered.

Percy stared at the mound of books around her. They all looked old and mildewed. Some had prices written in marker on the covers, like the library had gotten rid of them in a clearance sale.

"She's quoting books," Percy guessed.

"Farmer 1 s Almanac 1965" Ella said. "'Start breeding animals, January twenty-sixth.'"

"Ella," he said, "have you read all of these?"

She blinked. "More. More downstairs. Words. Words calm Ella down. Words, words, words."

Percy picked up a book at random — a tattered copy of A History of Horseracing. "Ella, do you remember the, um, third paragraph on page sixty-two — "

'"Secretariat,"' Ella said instantly, "'favored three to two-in the 1973 Kentucky Derby, finished at standing track record of one fifty-nine and two fifths.'"

Percy closed the book. His hands were shaking. "Word for word."

"That's amazing," Hazel said.

"She's a genius chicken," Frank agreed.

Percy felt uneasy. He was starting to form a terrible idea about why Phineas wanted to capture Ella, and it wasn't because she'd scratched him. He shared a look with Daria and knew that they were thinking the same thing. Percy remembered that line she'd recited, A half-blood of the eldest gods. He was sure it was about him. His cousin's eyes flashed, _there was no way Phineas was getting this harpy._

"Ella," he said, "we're going to find a way to break the curse. Would you like that?"

'"It's Impossible,"' she said. "'Recorded in English by Perry Como, 1970.'"

"Nothing's impossible," Percy said. "Now, look, I'm going to say his name. You don't have to run away. We're going to save you from the curse. We just need to figure out a way to beat ... Phineas."

He waited for her to bolt, but she just shook her head vigorously. "N-n-no! No Phineas. Ella is quick. Too quick for him. B-but he wants to ch- chain Ella. He hurts Ella."

She tried to reach the gash on her back.

"Frank," Percy said, "you have first-aid supplies?"

"On it." Frank brought out a thermos full of nectar and explained its healing properties to Ella. When he scooted closer, she recoiled and started to shriek. Then Hazel tried, and Ella let her pour some nectar on her back. The wound began to close.

Hazel smiled. "See? That's better."

"Phineas is bad," Ella insisted. "And weed whackers. And cheese."

"Absolutely," Percy agreed. "We won't let him hurt you again. We need to figure out how to trick him, though. You harpies must know him better than anybody. Is there any way we can trick him?"

"N-no," Ella said. "Tricks are for kids. 50 Tricks to Teach Your Dog, by Sophie Collins, call number six-three-six — "

"Okay, Ella." Hazel spoke in a soothing voice, like she was trying to calm a horse. "But does Phineas have any weaknesses?"

"Blind. He's blind."

Frank rolled his eyes and Daria nudged him, but Hazel continued patiently, "Right. Besides that?"

"Chance," she said. "Games of chance. Two to one. Bad odds. Call or fold."

Percy's spirits rose. "You mean he's a gambler?"

"Phineas s-sees big things. Prophecies. Fates. God stuff. Not small stuff. Random. Exciting. And he is blind."

Frank rubbed his chin. "Any idea what she means?"

Percy watched the harpy pick at her burlap dress. He felt incredibly sorry for her, but he was also starting to realize just how smart she was.

"I think I get it," Daria said. "Phineas sees the future. He knows tons of important events. But he can't see small things — like random occurrences, spontaneous games of chance. That makes gambling exciting for him. If we can tempt him into making a bet..."

Hazel nodded slowly. "You mean if he loses, he has to tell us where Thanatos is. But what do we have to wager? What kind of game do we play?"

"Something simple, with high stakes," Percy said. "Like two choices. One you live, one you die. And the prize has to be something Phineas wants... I mean, besides Ella. That's off the table."

"Sight," Ella muttered. "Sight is good for blind men. Healing. . .nope, nope. Gaea won't do that for Phineas. Gaea keeps Phineas b-blind, dependent on Gaea. Yep."

Frank and Percy exchanged a meaningful look. "Gorgon's blood," they said simultaneously.

"What?" Hazel and Daria asked at the same time. Weird.

Frank brought out the two ceramic vials he'd retrieved from the Little Tiber. "Ella's a genius," he said. "Unless we die."

"Don't worry about that," Percy said. "I've got a plan."

* * *

Enjoy! Please review 3

~M


	11. ten

At this point, Daria would probably rather be killed by the gorgon's blood than have to explain to Percy Jackson why she would be able to tell Phineas when people would die. Dates were threatening to appear on top of her friends heads. She knew from prior experience that they would leave in 24 hours, Daria just had to hold out until then.

And her mother...Phineas knew who she was and he didn't seem very surprised. Maybe she was just a minor goddess but...the way that she had offered her all this power...things just didn't add up. She shook her head as they walked back to the food trucks, she couldn't afford be distracted right now.

The old man was right where they'd left him, in the middle of the food truck parking lot. He sat on his picnic bench with his bunny slippers propped up, eating a plate of greasy shish kebab. His weed whacker was at his side. His bathrobe was smeared with barbecue sauce.

"Welcome back!" he called cheerfully. "I hear the flutter of nervous little wings. You've brought me my harpy?"

"She's here," Percy said. "But she's not yours."

Phineas sucked the grease off his fingers. His milky eyes seemed fixed on a point just above Daria's head. "I see... Well, actually, I'm blind, so I don't see. Have you come to kill me, then? If so, good luck completing your quest."

"I've come to gamble."

The old man's mouth twitched. He put down his shishkebab and leaned toward Percy. "A gamble... how interesting. Information in exchange for the harpy? Winner take all?"

"No," Percy said. "The harpy isn't part of the deal."

Phineas laughed. "Really? Perhaps you don't understand her value."

"She's a person," Percy said. "She isn't for sale."

"Oh, please! You're from the Roman camp, aren't you? Rome was built on slavery. Don't get all high and mighty with me. Besides, she isn't even human. She's a monster. A wind spirit. A minion of Jupiter."

Ella squawked. Just getting her into the parking lot had been a major challenge, but now she started backing away, muttering, '"Jupiter. Hydrogen and helium. Sixty-three satellites.' No minions. Nope."

Hazel put her arm around Ella's wings. She seemed to be the only one who could touch the harpy without causing lots of screaming and twitching.

Daria and Frank stayed at Percy's side. He held his spear ready, as if the old man might charge them. Daria's swords were sheathed, she didn't trust how well they'd work after the poison. And besides, she could take a blind guy without them.

Percy brought out the ceramic vials. "I have a different wager. We've got two flasks of gorgon's blood. One kills. One heals. They look exactly the same. Even we don't know which is which. If you choose the right one, it could cure your blindness."

Phineas held out his hands eagerly. "Let me feel them. Let me smell them."

"Not so fast," Daria said. "First you agree to the terms."

"Terms..." Phineas was breathing shallowly. Daria could tell he was hungry to take the offer. "Prophecy and sight ... I'd be unstoppable. I could own this city. I'd build my palace here, surrounded by food trucks. I could capture that harpy myself!"

"N-noo," Ella said nervously. "Nope, nope, nope."

A villainous laugh is hard to pull off when you're wearing pink bunny slippers, but Phineas gave it his best shot. "Very well, demigod. What are your terms?"

"You get to choose a vial," Percy said. "No uncorking, no sniffing before you decide."

"That's not fair! I'm blind."

"And I don't have your sense of smell," Percy countered. "You can hold the vials. And I'll swear on the River Styx that they look identical. They're exactly what I told you: gorgon's blood, one vial from the left side of the monster, one from the right. And I swear that none of us knows which is which."

Percy looked back at Hazel. "Uh, you're our Underworld expert. With all this weird stuff going on with Death, is an oath on the River Styx still binding?"

"Yes," she said, without hesitation. "To break such a vow. ..Well, just don't do it. There are worse things than death."

Phineas stroked his beard. "So I choose which vial to drink. You have to drink the other one. We swear to drink at the same time."

"Right," Percy said.

"The loser dies, obviously," Phineas said. "That kind of poison would probably keep even me from coming back to life. . .for a long time, at least. My essence would be scattered and degraded. So I'm risking quite a lot."

"But if you win, you get everything," Percy said. "If I die, my friends will swear to leave you in peace and not take revenge. You'd have your sight back, which even Gaea won't give you."

The old man's expression soured. Daria could tell he'd struck a nerve. Phineas wanted to see. As much as Gaea had given him, he resented being kept in the dark.

"If I lose," the old man said, "I'll be dead, unable to give you information. How does that help you?"

Daria was glad Percy'd talked this through with his friends ahead of time. Frank had suggested the answer.

"You write down the location of Alcyoneus's lair ahead of time," Percy said. "Keep it to yourself, but swear on the River Styx it's specific and accurate. You also have to swear that if you lose and die, the harpies will be released from their curse."

"Those are high stakes," Phineas grumbled. "You face death, Percy Jackson. Wouldn't it be simpler just to hand over the harpy?"

"Not an option."

Phineas smiled slowly. "So you are starting to understand her worth. Once I have my sight, I'll capture her myself, you know. Whoever controls that harpy. ..well, I was a king once. This gamble could make me a king again."

"You're getting ahead of yourself," Percy said. "Do we have a deal?"

Phineas tapped his nose thoughtfully. "I can't foresee the outcome. Annoying how that works. A completely unexpected gamble... it makes the future cloudy. But I can tell you this, Percy Jackson — a bit of free advice, if you survive today, you're not going to like your future. A big sacrifice is coming, and you won't have the courage to make it. That will cost you dearly. It will cost the world dearly. It might be easier if you just choose the poison."

Percy looked like he had just tasted Iris's sour green tea again. In the trees around the parking lot, the harpies gathered to watch as if they sensed what was at stake. Frank and Hazel studied Percy's face

with concern. He'd assured them the odds weren't as bad as fifty-fifty. He did have a plan. Of course, the plan could backfire. But Phineas was going to die. Daria could see his timer: 7 minutes.

"Do we have a deal?" he asked again.

Phineas grinned. "I swear on the River Styx to abide by the terms, just as you have described them. Frank Zhang, you're the descendant of an Argonaut. I trust your word. If I win, do you and your friends swear to leave me in peace, and not seek revenge?"

Frank's hands were clenched so tight Daria thought he might break his gold spear, but he managed to grumble, "I swear it on the River Styx."

"I also swear," Hazel said.

"Me too," Daria snapped. "Old hag."

"Swear," Ella muttered. '"Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon.'"

Phineas laughed. "In that case, find me something to write with. Let's get started."

Frank borrowed a napkin and a pen from a food truck vendor. Phineas scribbled something on the napkin and put it in his bathrobe pocket. "I swear this is the location of Alcyoneus's lair. Not that you'll live long enough to read it."

Percy drew his sword and swept all the food off the picnic table. Phineas sat on one side. Percy sat on the other.

Phineas held out his hands. "Let me feel the vials."

Percy gazed at the hills in the distance. Phineas curled his fingers in a grasping motion. "Losing your nerve, Percy Jackson? Let me have them."

Percy passed him the vials.

The old man compared their weight. He ran his fingers along the ceramic surfaces. Then he set them both on the table and rested one hand lightly on each. A tremor passed through the ground — a mild earthquake, just strong enough to make Daria's teeth chatter. Ella cawed nervously. The vial on the left seemed to shake slightly more than the one on the right.

Phineas grinned wickedly. He closed his fingers around the left-hand vial. "You were a fool, Percy Jackson. I choose this one. Now we drink." Percy took the vial on the right. His teeth were chattering.

The old man raised his vial. "A toast to the sons of Neptune."

They both uncorked their vials and drank.

Immediately, Percy doubled over, his throat burning.

"Oh, gods," Hazel said behind him.

"Nope!" Ella said. "Nope, nope, nope."

"Yes!" Phineas cried. "Any moment now, my sight will return!"

Percy had chosen wrong. He'd been stupid to take such a risk. "Percy!" Frank gripped his shoulders. "Percy, you can't die!"

"Mother," Daria murmured beneath her breath. "You say you can give me eternal power? Save Percy Jackson and we'll have a chat."

For a few moments, nothing happened except Percy's slow demise. Then, he sat up and gasped. At the same moment, Phineas hunched over like he'd been punched.

Daria let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Her hands stopped shaking, "Thank you," she whispered into the wind.

"You — you can't!" the old man wailed. "Gaea, you — you — " He staggered to his feet and stumbled away from the table, clutching his stomach. "I'm too valuable!"

Steam came out of his mouth. A sickly yellow vapor rose from his ears, his beard, his blind eyes. "Unfair!" he screamed. "You tricked me!"

He tried to claw the piece of paper out of his robe pocket, but his hands crumbled, his fingers turning to sand.

Percy rose unsteadily. He didn't look cured of anything in particular. "No one tricked you," Percy said. "You made your choice freely, and I hold you to your oath." The blind king wailed in agony. He turned in a circle, steaming and slowly disintegrating until there was nothing left but an old, stained bathrobe and a pair of bunny slippers.

"Those," Frank said, "are the most disgusting spoils of war ever."

A woman's voice spoke in Daria's mind, _You're welcome my child_. The wind picked up its speed a little more, _But now you owe a debt, and it is a debt you must pay_ _soon_. She shuddered.

Hazel prodded the robe with her sword. There was nothing underneath — no sign that Phineas was trying to re-form. She looked at Percy in awe. "That was either the bravest thing I've ever seen, or the stupidest."

Frank shook his head in disbelief. "Percy, how did you know? You were so confident he'd choose the poison."

"Gaea," Percy said. "She wants me to make it to Alaska. She thinks... I'm not sure. She thinks she can use me as part of her plan. She influenced Phineas to choose the wrong vial."

Frank stared in horror at the remains of the old man. ''Gaea would kill her own servant rather than you? That's what you were betting on?"

''Plans," Ella muttered. ''Plans and plots. The lady in the ground. Big plans for Percy. Macrobiotic jerky for Ella."

Percy handed her the whole bag of jerky and she squeaked with joy. "Nope, nope, nope," she muttered, half-singing. "Phineas, nope. Food and words for Ella, yep."

Percy crouched over the bathrobe and pulled the old man's note out of the pocket. Daria peeked over his shoulder It read: HUBBARD GLACIER.

All that risk for two words. He handed the note to Hazel.

"I know where that is," she said. "It's pretty famous. But we've got a long, long way to go."

In the trees around the parking lot, the other harpies finally overcame their shock. They squawked with excitement and flew at the nearest food trucks, diving through the service windows and raiding the kitchens. Cooks shouted in many languages. Trucks shook back and forth. Feathers and food boxes flew everywhere.

"We'd better get back to the boat," Percy said. "We're running out of time."

Even before she got on the boat, Hazel felt queasy.

She kept thinking about Phineas with steam coming out of his eyes, his hands crumbling to dust. Percy had assured her that she wasn't like Phineas. But she was. She'd done something even worse than torment harpies.

_You started this whole thing_! Phineas had said. _If it weren't for you, Alcyoneus wouldn't be alive_!

As the boat sped down the Columbia River, Hazel tried to forget. She helped Ella make a nest out of old books and magazines they'd liberated from the library's recycling bin.

They hadn't really planned on taking the harpy with them, but Ella acted like the matter was decided.

"Friends," she muttered. "Ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.' Friends melt Phineas and give Ella jerky. Ella will go with her friends."

Now she was roosting comfortably in the stern, nibbling bits of jerky and reciting random lines from Charles Dickens and 50 Tricks to Teach Your Dog.

Percy knelt in the bow, steering them toward the ocean with his freaky mind-over-water powers. Daria was in the back, feet hanging off the boat, dangerously close to the water which Percy would snap at her for. She didn't get their relationship, at all, but it was clear that they cared for each other somewhere in all the bickering. Hazel sat next to Frank on the center bench, their shoulders touching, which made her feel as jittery as a harpy.

She remembered how Frank stood up for her in Portland, shouting, "She's a good person!" like he was ready to take on anybody who denied it.

She remembered the way he had looked on the hillside in Mendocino, alone in a clearing of poisoned grass with his spear in hand, fires burning all around him and the ashes of three basilisks at his feet.

A week ago, if someone had suggested that Frank was a child of Mars, Hazel would have laughed. Frank was much too sweet and gentle for that. She had always felt protective of him because of his clumsiness and his knack for getting into trouble.

Since they'd left camp, she saw him differently. He had more courage than she'd realized. He was the one looking out for her. She had to admit that the change was kind of nice.

The river widened into the ocean. The Pax turned north. As they sailed, Frank kept her spirits up by telling her silly jokes — Why did the Minotaur cross the road? How many fauns does it take to change a lightbulb? He pointed out buildings along the coastline that reminded him of places in Vancouver.

The sky started to darken, the sea turning the same rusty color as Ella's wings. June 21 was almost over. The Feast of Fortuna would happen in the evening, exactly seventy-two hours from now.

Finally Frank brought out some food from his pack — sodas and muffins he'd scavenged from Phineas's table. He passed them around.

"It's okay, Hazel," he said quietly. "My mom used to say you shouldn't try to carry a problem alone. But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay."

Hazel took a shaky breath. She was afraid to talk — not just because she was embarrassed. She didn't want to black out and slip into the past. "You were right," she said, "when you guessed I came back from the Underworld. I'm. ..I'm an escapee. I shouldn't be alive."

She felt like a dam had broken. The story flooded out. She explained how her mother had summoned Pluto and fallen in love with the god. She explained her mother's wish for all the riches in the earth, and how that had turned into Hazel's curse. She described her life in New Orleans —

everything except her boyfriend Sammy. Looking at Frank, she couldn't bring herself to talk about that.

She described the Voice, and how Gaea had slowly taken over her mother's mind. She explained how they had moved to Alaska, how Hazel had helped to raise the giant Alcyoneus, and how she had died, sinking the island into Resurrection Bay.

She knew Percy, Daria, and Ella were listening, but she spoke mostly to Frank. When she had finished, she was afraid to look at him. She waited for him to move away from her, maybe tell her she was a monster after all.

Instead, he took her hand. "You sacrificed yourself to stop the giant from waking. I could never be that brave."

She felt her pulse throbbing in her neck. "It wasn't bravery. I let my mother die. I cooperated with Gaea too long. I almost let her win."

"Hazel," said Percy. "You stood up to a goddess all by yourself. You did the right..." His voice trailed off, as if he'd had an unpleasant thought. "What happened in the Underworld... I mean, after you died? You should've gone to Elysium. But if Nico brought you back — "

"I didn't go to Elysium." Her mouth felt dry as sand. "Please don't ask..."

But it was too late. She remembered her descent into the darkness, her arrival on the banks of the River Styx, and her consciousness began to slip.

"Hazel?" Frank asked.

'"Slip Sliding Away,"' Ella muttered. "Number five U.S. single. Paul Simon. Frank, go with her. Simon says, Frank, go with her."

Hazel had no idea what Ella was talking about, but her vision darkened as she clung to Frank's hand.

* * *

Ack! I'm so excited-after this chapter the story picks up a little, haha. Let me know what you think about Daria's 'new' powers.

~M


	12. eleven

"Ella," Daria said slowly. "What's going on-are Frank and Hazel okay?"

"Sharing," Ella squawked as she cleaned her feathers. "Sharing Cities, 2015-"

"Um okay." Percy interrupted. "Guess we just let them be."

The two, or well three, sat in silence for a few moments. Daria knew what was coming and already she was trying to prepare her answer. She didn't know what the worse option was, falling asleep and having to pay the debt that her mother asked of her, or this confrontation with Percy.

"So," Percy ventured. And there it was. "Why did Phineas ask you when he would die?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "there's no good way to say this. But promise me that you won't say anything until I've finished. Please."

Percy's eyes widened slightly, as if he wasn't expecting it to be that serious. He nodded. She took a deep breath and started.

"When I was 15, this was right after Mount Tam, Goddess Bellona, Reyna's mom, invited me up to Mount Olympus." She laughed dryly. "Well invite is a gentler term. They forced me to come. I didn't know any better. I was….arrogant. Like there was going to be some sort of praise or award or something. I planned the attack plans for the war you know, all of them."

"As soon as I arrived, I knew something was off. Now I'd never been there before, but I imagined that it would be livelier. It wasn't. There were very few gods there, first off. And they all looked afraid of me, I didn't know why. I was 15."

Percy was listening intently, his eyes never left her face. Her voice wavered, "That's when everything changed. I don't- I don't really remember this part. But whatever they did hurt, a lot.." She bit her lip. "They, the gods, said I would bring the downfall of everyone, they had seen the future I guess, or maybe the Fates had said something."

"They cursed me with this...ability," her eyes were wary. "If someone asks, if someone mentions their death, I see their death day and hour and minute and second. Please, don't ask," she added.

"When I got back, everything was different. I was growing into these newfound powers." She almost mentioned her mother, but when she tried her mouth went dry. "But essentially," she looked at him to see his reaction. "Basically, in this whole Prophecy of Eight, I'm supposed to betray you."

Percy was silent. She could see the wheels in his head turning. When he spoke, it was firm and direct, "You're not going to betray us." He sounded like the idea was absurd. "You're a lot of things but being a traitor...I don't think you have it in you." He laughed shortly before his expression turned to one of concern. "Wha-are you crying?"

She sniffed, "No?"

Percy cracked a sympathetic smile, his sea-green eyes reminded her of the Tiber. "Come here," he opened his arms for her to tuck herself into. "If the gods want to touch you again they're going to have to go through both of us," his voice was tight with responsibility. "I won't let you down Dars."

"Don't call me that," she mumbled.

He chuckled, arms still wrapped around her, "Tough." Percy sat up, "Now get some sleep. We can't have you fucking up the quest because you're tired." He teased.

Daria really didn't want to. Her contacts were dry, she desperately wanted a shower, and she didn't want to see her mother. But she was exhausted, so there was that. Using her backpack as a pillow, she left Percy in the company of Ella and fell asleep.

She was waiting for her when Daria closed her eyes. But now, instead of her ethereal glow, the light was faded. Her gaze was still warm, but colder, like she was scolding a child. "_Daria_," she murmured, turning to face her with those same forest-green eyes that Daria saw in the mirror.

"_You shouldn't have called me to help_," she purred. "_You know I can't say no to my favorite daughter._"

"When Phineas figured out who you were, he didn't seem surprised," Daria said, ignoring her. "Almost like someone had told him. But that's impossible. The only people who know are the gods, and Phineas doesn't talk to gods."

"_You're getting closer_," she said. "_Your powers child. The ones you refuse to use_."

"The death thing?" Daria paced around. "I don't know of any female goddess of Death."

"_No_." Her eyes glinted with something red. Anger? "_Child, you are the most powerful demigod on Earth. The Gods stole this from you. Daria. You have as much power as I do. You could rule the world with me. You can do anything._"

"On earth," Daria muttered. And things started clicking into place. The forest, death, why the gods didn't trust her. Her heart dropped and she found herself speaking against her will. "You're Gaea. Aren't you?"

Her eyes shined, as if her master plan had just taken flight. "_Yes_," she agreed and Daria realized how sleepy her voice was, how...alluring. "_Now, we can do this the easier way,_" she strolled around Daria, leaves floating wherever her feet touched the ground. "_You like easy don't you? Fewer monsters to deal with...Fewer of your friends dead._"

"I won't betray my friends," she tried to sound firm. But fewer of her friends dead? That didn't sound like she was trying to do her harm.

"_I don't expect you to,_" Gaea hummed, a trait that was so much like Daria that the daughter of the Earth felt some sort of attachment to the primordial being. "_Of course, I am being selfish_." She played with Daria's hair, "_What I want for you my daughter, is to be the strongest out of the eight demigods. To show the Gods how powerful you really are._"

It was tempting, the Gods couldn't care less about her; she wanted to make them fear her, make them respect her. Besides, if Gaea's true intention was just to show Daria how powerful she could really be, wouldn't that benefit all of them?

Her anxieties and ambition were her fatal flaws. Her need to make everything work out in the end, to please everyone. But if she could gain access to powers she never knew she had while her mother made it easier for them to get to Alaska, wasn't that a win-win situation?

"You're going to train me," Daria spoke aloud.

"_You may call it that,_" Gaea replied. "_I would be a sort of mentor to you. But, my dear, you do understand that I'm simply doing what any mother would do for her child._"

Daria hesitated. She wouldn't know, her father had died in a car accident two weeks after she was born. The only real parental figures she knew were the ones who looked after her and Jason at Camp. She could feel herself getting bent and pulled in different directions. What would Reyna do? What would Jason do? What would Percy do?

She could feel herself wavering, although she wouldn't really call it that. "So you would just appear in my dreams every night?"

"_Oh, it shouldn't take long,_" she waved her hand like some sort of Disney princess, making the trees shudder and the birds chirp along. "_In fact, I dare say that you would be at full power by the end of this quest. Though I must warn you,_" she frowned like the thought physically hurt her. "_The Gods, their curse, at times this will cause you pain. Sometimes unbearable. But child, your name means 'kingly'. This is what you were meant to do._"

Unbearable pain didn't sound very fun. But Daria had to remember, she was doing this for her legion, her friends, her Jason. "Okay," she acceded. "Teach me everything I need to know."

"Wake up Dars," Percy was shaking her, more violently than a usual wake-up call. She yawned, blinking before glancing around. Seattle was just as gray as she expected it to be. In the dreary clouds she could see skyscrapers and flashy lights, all accented by the constant sound of the sea.

"Are you okay?" Percy put a hand on her forehead like she had a fever. "You were like overheating or something. I swear there was steam coming off your skin."

"What?" She felt much more tired than when she went to sleep, like the time that she and Jason had run that 10k in SF. "No, I'm fine."

He looked at her disbelievingly, "Whatever. Anyway, we should wake up Hazel and Frank. We've got to find Hylla."

Daria rolled her eyes. She and Hylla had never gotten along the one time they had met, on some quest involving only Daria and Reyna. Their core philosophies involving men had been...different to say the least.

"Urn... why are we stopping here?" Hazel asked.

Percy showed them the silver ring on his necklace. "Reyna has a sister here. She asked me to find her and show her this."

"Reyna has a sister ?" Frank asked, like the idea terrified him.

Percy nodded. "Apparently Reyna thinks her sister could send help for the camp."

"Amazons," Ella muttered. "Amazon country. Hmm. Ella will find libraries instead. Doesn't like Amazons. Fierce. Shields. Swords. Pointy. Ouch." Yep, that just about summed it up.

Frank reached for his spear. "Amazons? Like... female warriors?"

"That would make sense," Hazel said. "If Reyna's sister is also a daughter of Bellona, I can see why she'd join the Amazons. But. . .is it safe for us to be here?"

"Nope, nope, nope," Ella said. "Get books instead. No Amazons."

"We have to try," Percy said. "I promised Reyna. Besides, the Pax isn't doing too great. I've been pushing it pretty hard."

Hazel looked down at her feet. Water was leaking between the floorboards. "Oh."

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "We'll either need to fix it or find a new boat. I'm pretty much holding it together with my willpower at this point. Ella, do you have any idea where we can find the Amazons?"

"And, urn," Frank said nervously, "they don't, like, kill men on sight, do they?"

Ella glanced at the downtown docks, only a few hundred yards away. "Ella will find friends later. Ella will fly away now."

And she did.

"Hylla knows me," Daria said grimly. "But there's still a voice in my head saying that this won't go that well."

"Voice in your head?" Percy laughed lightly. "What are you talking about?"  
Hazel glanced at him concerned, "you don't have that little voice that warns you about stuff?"

"No?"  
"That," Daria stared. "Explains so much. Come on, let's go."

They docked at the wharf. They barely had time to unload their supplies before the Pax shuddered and broke into pieces. Most of it sank, leaving only a board with a painted eye and another with the letter P bobbing in the waves.

"Guess we're not fixing it," Hazel said. "What now?"

Percy stared at the steep hills of downtown Seattle. "We hope the Amazons will help."

They explored for hours. They found some great salty caramel chocolate at a candy store. They bought some coffee so strong, Daria's head felt like a vibrating gong. They stopped at a sidewalk cafe and had some excellent grilled salmon sandwiches.

Once they saw Ella zooming between high-rise towers, a large book clutched in each foot. But they found no Amazons. All the while, Daria was aware of the time ticking by. June 22 now, and Alaska was still a long way away.

Finally they wandered south of downtown, into a plaza surrounded by smaller glass and brick buildings. Daria's nerves started tingling. She looked around, sure she was being watched.

"There," Hazel said.

The office building on their left had a single word etched on the glass doors: amazon.

"Oh," Frank said. "Uh, no, Hazel. That's a modern thing. They're a company, right? They sell stuff on the Internet. They're not actually Amazons."

"Unless..." Daria walked through the doors. Frank and Hazel shared a nervous glance, but they followed.

The lobby was like an empty fish tank — glass walls, a glossy black floor, a few token plants, and pretty much nothing else. Against the back wall, a black stone staircase led up and down. In the middle of the room stood a young woman in a black pantsuit, with long auburn hair and a security guard's earpiece. Her name tag said _kinzie_. Her smile was friendly enough, but her eyes reminded Daria of Jackson, the praetor when she was a child. They always seemed to look through you, as if they were thinking about who might attack them next.

Kinzie nodded at Hazel and Daria, ignoring the boys. "May I help you?"

"Urn. ..I hope so," Hazel said. "We're looking for Amazons."

Kinzie glanced at Hazel's sword, then Frank's spear, though neither should have been visible through the Mist.

"This is the main campus for Amazon," she said cautiously. "Did you have an appointment with someone, or — "

"Hylla," Percy interrupted. "We're looking for a girl named — "

Kinzie moved so fast, Daria's eyes almost couldn't follow. She kicked Frank in the chest and sent him flying backward across the lobby. She pulled a sword out of thin air, swept Percy off his feet with the flat of the blade, and pressed the point under his chin.

Too late, Daria tapped her rings together, springing her twin swords, untouched by poison. But this didn't seem to matter much to the dozen more girls in black who flooded up the staircase, swords in hand, and surrounded her. Daria gritted her teeth, just once she wanted to be taken seriously outside of the legion.

Kinzie glared down at Percy. "First rule: Males don't speak without permission. Second rule, trespassing on our territory is punishable by death. You'll meet Queen Hylla, all right. She'll be the one deciding your fate."

The Amazons confiscated the group's weapons and marched them down so many flights of stairs, Daria lost count.

"You keep slaves ?" Hazel probably knew it might be dangerous to speak, but she was so outraged she couldn't stop herself.

"The men?" Kinzie snorted. "They're not slaves. They just know their place. Now, move."

"Gods, I hate this place," Daria muttered.

They walked so far, Daria's feet began to hurt. She thought they must surely be getting to the end of the warehouse when Kinzie opened a large set of double doors and led them into another cavern, just as big as the first.

"The Underworld isn't this big," Hazel complained, which probably wasn't true.

Kinzie smiled smugly. "You admire our base of operations? Yes, our distribution system is worldwide. It took many years and most of our fortune to build. Now, finally, we're turning a profit. The mortals don't realize they are funding the Amazon kingdom. Soon, we'll be richer than any mortal nation. Then — when the weak mortals depend on us for everything — the revolution will begin!"

"What are you going to do?" Frank grumbled. "Cancel free shipping?"

A guard slammed the hilt of her sword into his gut. Percy tried to help him, but two more guards pushed him back at sword point.

"You'll learn respect," Kinzie said. "It's males like you who have ruined the mortal world. The only harmonious society is one run by women. We are stronger, wiser — "

"More humble," Percy said.

The guards tried to hit him, but Percy ducked.

"Stop it!" Hazel said. Surprisingly, the guards listened. "Hylla is going to judge us, right?" Hazel asked. "So take us to her. We're wasting time."

Kinzie nodded. "Perhaps you're right. We have more important problems. And time... time is definitely an issue."

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked.

A guard grunted. "We could take them straight to Otrera. Might win her favor that way."

"No!" Kinzie snarled. "I'd sooner wear an iron collar and drive a forklift. Hylla is queen."

"Until tonight," another guard muttered. Kinzie gripped her sword. For a second Hazel thought the Amazons might start fighting one another, but Kinzie seemed to get her anger under control.

"Enough," she said. "Let's go." They crossed a lane of forklift traffic, navigated a maze of conveyor belts, and ducked under a row of robotic arms that were packing up boxes.

Finally they entered a smaller cavern that looked like a combination loading zone and throne room. The walls were lined with metal shelves six stories high, decorated with war banners, painted shields, and the stuffed heads of dragons, hydras, giant lions, and wild boars.

She watched in horror as a forklift zipped into the room, picked up a cage with a beautiful white pegasus, and sped away while the horse whinnied in protest.

"What are you doing to that poor animal?" Hazel demanded.

Kinzie frowned. "The pegasus? It'll be fine. Someone must've ordered it. The shipping and handling charges are steep, but — "

"You can buy a pegasus online?" Percy asked.

Kinzie glared at him. "Obviously you can't, male. But Amazons can. We have followers all over the world. They need supplies. This way."

At the base of the steps, several Amazons in camouflage were having a heated argument while a young woman — Queen Hylla, Daria realized, grimacing.

Hylla was in her twenties, lithe and lean as a tiger. She wore a black leather jumpsuit and black boots. She had no crown, but around her waist was a strange belt made of interlocking gold links, like the pattern of a labyrinth. Daria was struck again by how much she looked like Reyna — a little older, perhaps, but with the same long black hair, the same dark eyes, and the same hard expression, like she was trying to decide which of the Amazons before her most deserved death.

Kinzie took one look at the argument and grunted with distaste. "Otrera's agents, spreading their lies."

"What?" Frank asked.

Then Hazel stopped so abruptly, the guards behind her stumbled. A few feet from the queen's throne, two Amazons guarded a cage. Inside was a beautiful horse — not the winged kind, but a majestic and powerful stallion with a honey-colored coat and a black mane. His fierce brown eyes regarded Hazel, and she could swear he looked impatient, as if thinking: _About time you got here_.

"It's him," Hazel murmured.

"Him, who?" Percy asked.

Kinzie scowled in annoyance, but when she saw where Hazel was looking, her expression softened. "Ah, yes. Beautiful, isn't he?"

"Is he..." Hazel could hardly control her voice. "Is he for sale?"

The guards all laughed.

"That's Arion," Kinzie said patiently, as if she understood Hazel's fascination. "He's a royal treasure of the Amazons — to be claimed only by our most courageous warrior, if you believe the prophecy."

"Prophecy?" Hazel asked.

Kinzie's expression became pained, almost embarrassed. "Never mind. But no, he's not for sale."

"Then why is he in a cage?"

Kinzie grimaced. "Because. ..he is difficult."

Right on cue, the horse slammed his head against the cage door. The metal bars shuddered, and the guards retreated nervously.

"Just asking," Hazel managed, she swallowed hard. "Let's see the queen."

The argument at the front of the room grew louder. Finally the Hylla noticed Daria's group approaching, and she snapped, "Enough!"

The arguing Amazons shut up immediately. The queen waved them aside and beckoned Kinzie forward.

Kinzie shoved Hazel and her friends toward the throne. "My queen, these demigods — "

The queen shot to her feet. "You!"

She glared at Percy Jackson with murderous rage.

Percy muttered something in Ancient Greek that Hazel was pretty sure the nuns at St. Agnes wouldn't have liked.

"Clipboard," he said. "Spa. Pirates."

This made no sense to Daria but the queen nodded. She stepped down from her dais of bestsellers and drew a dagger from her belt.

"You were incredibly foolish to come here," she said. "You destroyed my home. You made my sister and me exiles and prisoners."

"Percy," Frank said uneasily. "What's the scary woman with the dagger talking about?"

"Circe's Island," Percy said. "I just remembered. The gorgon's blood — maybe it's starting to heal my mind. The Sea of Monsters. Hylla. ..she welcomed us at the docks, took us to see her boss. Hylla worked for the sorceress."

Hylla bared her perfect white teeth. "Are you telling me you've had amnesia? You know, I might actually believe you. Why else would you be stupid enough to come here?"

"That's true," Daria muttered. "Only idiots would want to be graced by your presence."

Hylla's head snapped in her direction, lessening Percy as a target. She pointed at Daria with her dagger, a motion so precise that Hylla could drive it through her heart if she wanted to. "Ah," she said slowly. "If it isn't the stubborn, selfish bitch of the West." She saw Hazel stifle a gasp beside her at the curse.

"Oh but it isn't," Daria blinked innocently. "It's me, Daria Jackson. I believe we've met."

Hylla growled, throwing the dagger so close to Daria's head that it nicked her ear. With a thud, it stuck itself in the wall behind her. Truthfully, Daria was very, very surprised she didn't flinch. "I _hate_ the Jacksons."

"We've come in peace," Hazel insisted. "What did they do?"

"Peace?" The queen raised her eyebrows at Hazel. "What did he do? This male destroyed Circe's school of magic!"

"Circe turned me into a guinea pig!" Percy protested.

"No excuses!" Hylla said. "Circe was a wise and generous employer. I had room and board, a good health plan, dental, pet leopards, free potions — everything! And this demigod with his friend, the blonde — "

"Annabeth." Percy tapped his forehead like he wanted the memories to come back faster. "That's right. I was there with Annabeth."

"You released our captives — Blackbeard and his pirates." She turned to Hazel. "Have you ever been kidnapped by pirates? It isn't fun. They burned our spa to the ground. My sister and I were their prisoners for months. Fortunately we were daughters of Bellona. We learned to fight quickly. If we hadn't..." She shuddered. "Well, the pirates learned to respect us. Eventually we made our way to California where we — " She hesitated as if the memory was painful. "Where my sister and I parted ways."

She stepped toward Percy until they were nose-to-nose. She ran another dagger under his chin. "Of course, I survived and prospered. I have risen to be queen of the Amazons. So perhaps I should thank you."

"And Daria?" Hazel wondered aloud.

"Hazel..." Daria shook her head. She already regretted tempting fate.

Hylla glared at her. "She knows what she did. I'm surprised Reyna didn't kick her out of the legion."

"Reyna loves me," Daria retorted. Ah, maybe that was the wrong choice of words.

"Be quiet," Hylla snapped, she dug her knife a little deeper into Percy's neck.

"Wait!" Hazel yelped. "Reyna's the one who sent us! Your sister! Look at the ring on his necklace."

Hylla frowned. She lowered her knife to Percy's necklace until the point rested on the silver ring. The color drained from her face.

"Explain this." She glared at Hazel. "Quickly."

Hazel did her best. She described Camp Jupiter. She told the Amazons about Reyna being their praetor, and the army of monsters that was marching south. She told them about their quest to free Thanatos in Alaska.

As Hazel talked, another group of Amazons entered the room. One was taller and older than the rest, with plaited silver hair and fine silk robes like a Roman matron.

"So we need your help," Hazel finished her story. "Reyna needs your help."

Hylla gripped Percy's leather cord and yanked it off his neck — beads, ring, probatio tablet and all. "Reyna... that foolish girl — "

"Well!" the older woman interrupted. "Romans need our help?" She laughed, and the Amazons around her joined in.

"How many times did we battle the Romans in my day?" the woman asked. "How many times have they killed our sisters in battle? When I was queen — "

"Otrera," Hylla interrupted, "you are here as a guest. You are not queen anymore."

The older woman spread her hands and made a mocking bow. "As you say — at least, until tonight. But I speak the truth, Queen Hylla." She said the word like a taunt. "I've been brought back by the Earth Mother herself! I bring tidings of a new war. Why should Amazons follow Jupiter, that foolish king of Olympus, when we can follow a queen ? When I take command — "

"If you take command," Hylla said. "But for now, I am queen. My word is law."

"I see." Otrera looked at the assembled Amazons, who were standing very still, as if they'd found themselves in a pit with two wild tigers. "Have we become so weak that we listen to male demigods? Will you spare the life of this son of Neptune, even though he once destroyed your home? Perhaps you'll let him destroy your new home, too!"

"I will pass judgment," Hylla said in an icy tone, "once I have all the facts. That is how I rule — by reason, not fear. First, I will talk with this one." She jabbed a finger toward Hazel. "It is my duty to hear out a female warrior before I sentence her or her allies to death. That is the Amazon way. Or have your years in the Underworld muddled your memory, Otrera?"

The older woman sneered, but she didn't try to argue.

Hylla turned to Kinzie. "Take these males to the holding cells, and Daria as well. The rest of you, leave us."

Otrera raised her hand to the crowd. "As our queen commands. But any of you who would like to hear more about Gaea, and our glorious future with her, come with me!"

About half the Amazons followed her out of the room. Kinzie snorted with disgust, then she and her guards hauled the three of them away. The chains were digging into Daria's wrists as she caught Hazel's eye. _Good luck_, Daria mouthed.

Hazel's eyes read something like: _Ahhhh_. But she could handle this. Daria's main goal was to keep her cousin from saying something that would get them all killed. And Percy Jackson was probably thinking the exact same thing.

* * *

A long chapter for you guys, and finally, the big reveal. Were you guys expecting it? One review for the next chapter plz.

~M


	13. twelve

Hazel considered making a run for it.

She didn't trust Queen Hylla, and she certainly didn't trust that other lady, Otrera. Only three guards were left in the room. All of them kept their distance.

Hylla was armed with just a dagger. This deep underground, Hazel might be able to cause an earthquake in the throne room, or summon a big pile of schist or gold. If she could cause a distraction, she might be able to escape and find her friends.

Unfortunately, she'd seen the Amazons fight. Even though the queen had only a dagger, Hazel suspected she could use it pretty well. And Hazel was unarmed. They hadn't searched her, which meant thankfully they hadn't taken Frank's firewood from her coat pocket, but her sword was gone.

The queen seemed to be reading her thoughts. "Forget about escape. Of course, we'd respect you for trying. But we'd have to kill you."

"Thanks for the warning."

Hylla shrugged. "The least I can do. I believe you come in peace. I believe Reyna sent you."

"But you won't help?"

The queen studied the necklace she'd taken from Percy. "It's complicated," she said. "Amazons have always had a rocky relationship with other demigods — especially male demigods. We fought for King Priam in the Trojan War, but Achilles killed our queen, Penthesilea. Years before that, Hercules stole Queen Hippolyta's belt — this belt I'm wearing. It took us centuries to recover it. Long before that, at the very beginning of the Amazon nation, a hero named Bellerophon killed our first queen, Otrera."

"You mean the lady — "

" — who just left, yes. Otrera, our first queen, daughter of Ares."

"Mars?"

Hylla made a sour face. "No, definitely Ares. Otrera lived long before Rome, in a time when all demigods were Greek. Unfortunately, some of our warriors still prefer the old ways. Children of Ares... they are always the worst."

"The old ways. . ." Hazel had heard rumors about Greek demigods. Octavian believed they existed and were secretly plotting against Rome. But she'd never really believed it, even when Percy came to camp. He just didn't strike her as an evil, scheming Greek. "You mean the Amazons are a mix. . .Greek and Roman?"

Hylla continued to examine the necklace — the clay beads, the probatio tablet. She slipped Reyna's silver ring off the cord and put it on her own finger. "I suppose they don't teach you about that at Camp Jupiter. The gods have many aspects. Mars, Ares. Pluto, Hades. Being immortal, they tend to accumulate personalities. They are Greek, Roman, American — a combination of all the cultures they've influenced over the eons. Do you understand?"

"I — I'm not sure. Are all Amazons demigods?"

The queen spread her hands. "We all have some immortal blood, but many of my warriors are descended from demigods. Some have been Amazons for countless generations. Others are children of minor gods. Kinzie, the one who brought you here, is the daughter of a nymph. Ah — here she is now."

The girl with the auburn hair approached the queen and bowed.

"The prisoners are safely locked away," Kinzie reported. "But..."

"Yes?" the queen asked.

Kinzie swallowed like she had a bad taste in her mouth. "Otrera made sure her followers are guarding the cells. I'm sorry, my queen."

Hylla pursed her lips. "No matter. Stay with us, Kinzie. We were just talking about our, ah, situation."

"Otrera," Hazel guessed. "Gaea brought her back from the dead to throw you Amazons into civil war."

The queen exhaled. "If that was her plan, it is working. Otrera is a legend among our people. She plans to take back the throne and lead us to war against the Romans. Many of my sisters will follow her."

"Not all," Kinzie grumbled.

"But Otrera is a spirit!" Hazel said. "She isn't even — "

"Real?" The queen studied Hazel carefully. "I worked with the sorceress Circe for many years. I know a returned soul when I see one. When did you die, Hazel — Nineteen twenty? Nineteen thirty?"

"Nineteen forty-two," Hazel said. "But — but I wasn't sent by Gaea. I came back to stop her. This is my second chance."

"Your second chance. . ." Hylla gazed at the rows of battle forklifts, now empty. "I know about second chances. That boy, Percy Jackson — he destroyed my old life. You wouldn't have recognized me back then. I wore dresses and makeup. I was a glorified secretary, an accursed Barbie doll."

Kinzie made a three-fingered claw over her heart, like the voodoo gestures Hazel's mom once used forwarding off the Evil Eye.

"Circe's island was a safe place for Reyna and me," the queen continued. "We were daughters of the war goddess, Bellona. I wanted to protect Reyna from all that violence. Then Percy Jackson unleashed the pirates. They kidnapped us, and Reyna and I learned to be tough. We found out that we were good with weapons. The past four years, I've wanted to kill Percy Jackson for what he made us endure."

"But Reyna became the praetor of Camp Jupiter," Hazel said. "You became the queen of the Amazons. Maybe this was your destiny."

Hylla fingered the necklace in her hand. "I may not be queen for much longer."

''You will prevail!" Kinzie insisted.

"As the Fates decree," Hylla said without enthusiasm. "You see, Hazel, Otrera has challenged me to a duel. Every Amazon has that right. Tonight at midnight, we'll battle for the throne."

"But... you're good, right?" Hazel asked.

Hylla managed a dry smile. "Good, yes, but Otrera is the founder of the Amazons."

"She's a lot older. Maybe she's out of practice, having been dead for so long."

"I hope you're right, Hazel. You see, it's a battle to the death..."

She waited for that to sink in. Hazel remembered what Phineas had said in Portland — how he had had a shortcut back from death, thanks to Gaea. She remembered how the gorgons had tried to re-form in the Tiber.

"Even if you kill her," Hazel said, "she'll just come back. As long as Thanatos is chained, she won't stay dead."

"Exactly," Hylla said. "Otrera has already told us that she can't die. So even if I manage to defeat her tonight, she'll simply return and challenge me again tomorrow. There is no law against challenging the queen multiple times. She can insist on fighting me every night, until she finally wears me down. I can't win."

Hazel gazed at the throne. She imagined Otrera sitting there with her fine robes and her silver hair, ordering her warriors to attack Rome. She imagined the voice of Gaea filling this cavern.

"There has to be a way," she said. "Don't Amazons have... special powers or something?"

"No more than other demigods," Hylla said. "We can die, just like any mortal. There is a group of archers who follow the goddess Artemis. They are often mistaken for Amazons, but the Hunters forsake the company of men in exchange for almost endless life. We Amazons — we would prefer to live life to the fullest. We love, we fight, we die."

"I thought you hated men."

Hylla and Kinzie both laughed.

"Hate men?" said the queen. "No, no, we like men. We just like to show them who's in charge. But that's beside the point. If I could, I would rally our troops and ride to my sister's aid. Unfortunately, my power is tenuous. When I am killed in combat — and it's only a matter of time — Otrera will be

queen. She will march to Camp Jupiter with our forces, but she will not go to help my sister. She'll go to join the giant's army."

"We've got to stop her," Hazel said. "My friends and I killed Phineas, one of Gaea's other servants in Portland. Maybe we can help!"

The queen shook her head. "You can't interfere. As queen, I must fight my own battles. Besides, your friends are imprisoned. If I let them go, I'll look weak. Either I execute you four as trespassers, or Otrera will do so when she becomes queen."

Hazel's heart sank. "So I guess we're both dead. Me for the second time."

In the corner cage, the stallion Arion whinnied angrily. He reared and slammed his hooves against the bars.

"The horse seems to feel your despair," the queen said. "Interesting. He's immortal, you know — the son of Neptune and Ceres."

Hazel blinked. "Two gods had a horse for a kid?"

"Long story."

"Oh." Hazel's face felt hot with embarrassment.

"He's the fastest horse in the world," Hylla said. "Pegasus is more famous, with his wings, but Arion runs like the wind over land and sea. No creature is faster. It took us years to capture him — one of our greatest prizes. But it did us no good. The horse will not allow anyone to ride him. I think he hates Amazons. And he is expensive to keep. He will eat anything, but he prefers gold."

The back of Hazel's neck tingled. "He eats gold?"

She remembered the horse following her in Alaska so many years ago. She had thought he was eating nuggets of gold that appeared in her footsteps.

She knelt and pressed her hand against the floor. Immediately, the stone cracked. A chunk of gold ore the size of a plum was pushed out of the earth. Hazel stood, examining her prize.

Hylla and Kinzie stared at her.

"How did you...?" The queen gasped. "Hazel, be careful!"

Hazel approached the stallion's cage. She put her hand between the bars, and Arion gingerly ate the chunk of gold from her palm.

"Unbelievable," Kinzie said. "The last girl who tried that — "

"Now has a metal arm," the queen finished. She studied Hazel with new interest, as if deciding whether or not to say more. "Hazel... we spent years hunting for this horse. It was foretold that the most courageous female warrior would someday master Arion and ride him to victory, ushering in a new era of prosperity for the Amazons. Yet no Amazon can touch him, much less control him. Even Otrera tried and failed. Two others died attempting to ride him."

That probably should've worried Hazel, but she couldn't imagine this beautiful horse hurting her. She put her hand through the bars again and stroked Arion's nose. He nuzzled her arm, murmuring contentedly, as if asking, _More gold? Yum_.

"I would feed you more, Arion." Hazel glanced pointedly at the queen. "But I think I'm scheduled for an execution."

Queen Hylla looked from Hazel to the horse and back again. "Unbelievable."

"The prophecy," Kinzie said. "Is it possible...?"

Hazel could almost see the gears turning inside the queen's head, formulating a plan. "You have courage, Hazel Levesque. And it seems Arion has chosen you. Kinzie?"

"Yes, my queen?"

"You said Otrera's followers are guarding the cells?"

Kinzie nodded. "I should have foreseen that. I'm sorry — "

"No, it's fine." The queen's eyes gleamed — the way Hannibal the elephant's did whenever he was unleashed to destroy a fortress. "It would be embarrassing for Otrera if her followers failed in their duties — if, for instance, they were overcome by an outsider and a prison break occurred."

Kinzie began to smile. "Yes, my queen. Most embarrassing."

"Of course," Hylla continued, "none of my guards would know a thing about this. Kinzie would not spread the word to allow an escape."

"Certainly not," Kinzie agreed.

"And we couldn't help you." The queen raised her eyebrows at Hazel. "But if you somehow overpowered the guards and freed your friends... if, for instance, you took one of the guards' Amazon cards — "

"With one-click purchasing enabled," Kinzie said, "which will open the jail cells with one click."

"If — gods forbid! — something like that were to happen," the queen continued, "you would find your friends' weapons and supplies in the guard station next to the cells. And who knows? If you made your way back to this throne room while I was off preparing for my duel... well, as I mentioned, Arion is a very fast horse. It would be a shame if he were stolen and used for an escape."

Hazel felt like she'd been plugged into a wall socket. Electricity surged through her whole body. Arion...Arion could be hers. All she had to do was rescue her friends and fight her way through an entire nation of highly trained warriors. "Queen Hylla," she said, "I — I'm not much of a fighter."

"Oh, there are many kinds of fighting, Hazel. I have a feeling you're quite resourceful. And if the prophecy is correct, you will help the Amazon nation achieve prosperity. If you succeed on your quest to free Thanatos, for instance — "

" — then Otrera wouldn't come back if she were killed," Hazel said. "You'd only have to defeat her... urn, every night until we succeed."

The queen nodded grimly. "It seems we both have impossible tasks ahead of us."

"But you're trusting me," said Hazel. "And I trust you. You will win, as many times as it takes."

Hylla held out Percy's necklace and poured it into Hazel's hands.

"I hope you're right," the queen said. "But the sooner you succeed the better, yes?"

Hazel slipped the necklace into her pocket. She shook the queen's hand, wondering if it was possible to make a friend so fast — especially one who was about to send her to jail.

"This conversation never happened," Hylla told Kinzie. "Take our prisoner to the cells and hand her over to Otrera's guards. And, Kinzie, be sure you leave before anything unfortunate happens. I don't want my loyal followers held accountable for a prison break."

The queen smiled mischievously, and for the first time, Hazel felt jealous of Reyna. She wished that she had a sister like this.

"Good-bye, Hazel Levesque," the queen said. "If we both die tonight... well, I'm glad I met you."

"I hate heights," Daria whispered to herself. The three of them were currently suspended about sixty feet in the air in metal cages. She wondered if Gaea had any advice for this one.

"We've got to break out," she heard Percy mutter to Frank. He was in the middle of the other two and looked more worried about the fact that his necklace was gone than their present situation.

"Obviously," Frank replied. "But what about Hazel?" A year was still dancing above his head, 2072. That was good, at least for now. Numbers could always change. Daria squeezed her eyes shut.

"Any of you powerful enough to fight about 50 Amazons?"

"Hey," Daria got their attention. "Let's calm down for a second. Frank stop pacing," she added. He along with the three guards around their cells was just adding to her anxiety. She peered around, "they've got to come close to the cages soon, right? Which one of them has the keys?"

"You're suggesting we take them?" Percy said incredulously.

"It's three versus three, I don't hate those odds."

"Guys," Frank whispered urgently. "Look. It's Hazel."

Daria squinted, "What is she doing?"

One of the guards walked over and grabbed Hazel's arm. Daria tried, and failed, to make out what they were saying but it didn't seem like Hazel was giving them an easy time. The guard Doris pulled on Hazel's arm to her, the boxes began to tremble.

"Lulu!" The guard yelled to one of her comrades. "Help me with this lame little girl."

_Amazons named Lulu?_ Daria thought. _Okay_ ...

The second guard jogged over. Before they could haul her to her feet, she yelled, "Ooooh!" and

flattened herself against the catwalk.

"What is she.."

The entire pallet of jewelry exploded with a sound like a thousand slot machines hitting the jackpot. A tidal wave of silver friendship bracelets poured across the catwalk, washing the two guards right over the railing.

They would've fallen to their deaths, but of course, Hazel wasn't that mean. She summoned a few hundred bracelets, which leaped at the guards and lashed around their ankles, leaving them hanging upside down from the bottom of the catwalk, screaming like lame little girls.

Hazel turned toward the third guard. She broke her bonds, which were about as sturdy as toilet paper. She picked up one of the fallen guards' spears. "Should I kill you from here?" Hazel snarled. "Or are you going to make me come over there?"

The guard turned and ran.

Hazel shouted over the side. "Amazon cards! Pass them up, unless you want me to undo those friendship bracelets and let you drop!"

Four and a half seconds later, Hazel had two Amazon cards. She raced over to the cages and swiped a card. The doors popped open.

Frank stared at her in astonishment. "Hazel, that was... amazing."

Percy nodded. "I will never wear jewelry again."

Daria just started humming _Cell Block Tango._

Hazel tossed Percy Reyna's necklace, "We should hurry. Pretty soon — "

Alarms began wailing throughout the cavern.

"Yeah," she said, "that'll happen. Let's go!"

The first part of the escape was easy. They retrieved their things with no problem, then started climbing down the ladder. Every time Amazons swarmed beneath them, demanding their surrender, Hazel made a crate of jewelry explode, burying their enemies in a Niagara Falls of gold and

silver. When they got to the bottom of the ladder, they found a scene that looked like Mardi Gras Armageddon — Amazons trapped up to their necks in bead necklaces, several more upside down in a mountain of amethyst earrings, and a battle forklift buried in silver charm bracelets.

"You, Hazel Levesque," Frank said, "are entirely freaking incredible."

She wanted to kiss him right there, but they had no time. They ran back to the throne room.

They stumbled across one Amazon who must've been loyal to Hylla. As soon as she saw the escapees, she turned away like they were invisible.

Percy started to ask, "What the — "

"Some of them want us to escape," Hazel said. "I'll explain later."

The second Amazon they met wasn't so friendly. She was dressed in full armor, blocking the throne-room entrance. She spun her spear with lightning speed, but this time Percy was ready. He drew Riptide and stepped into battle. As the Amazon jabbed at him, he sidestepped, cut her spear shaft in half, and slammed the hilt of his sword against her helmet.

The guard crumpled.

"Mars Almighty," Frank said. "How did you — that wasn't any Roman technique!"

Percy grinned. "The graecus has some moves, my friend. After you." Daria was mocking him from behind, her twin swords at the ready.

They ran into the throne room. As promised, Hylla and her guards had cleared out. Hazel dashed over to Arion's cage and swiped an Amazon card across the lock. Instantly the stallion burst forth, rearing in triumph.

Percy and Frank stumbled backward. Daria seemed just as fascinated as Hazel was.

"Urn... is that thing tame?" Frank said.

The horse whinnied angrily.

"I don't think so," Percy guessed. "He just said, I will trample you to death, silly Chinese Canadian baby man. "

"You speak horse?" Daria asked.

'"Baby man'?" Frank spluttered.

"Speaking to horses is a Poseidon thing," Percy said. "Uh, I mean a Neptune thing."

"Then you and Arion should get along fine," Hazel said. "He's a son of Neptune too."

Percy turned pale. "Excuse me?"

If they hadn't been in such a bad situation, Percy's expression might have made her laugh. "The point is, he's fast. He can get us out of here."

Frank did not look thrilled. "Four of us can't fit on one horse, can we? We'll fall off, or slow him down, or — "

Arion whinnied again.

"Ouch," Percy said. "Frank, the horse says you're a — you know, actually, I'm not going to translate that. Anyway, he says there's a chariot in the warehouse, and he's willing to pull it."

"There!" someone yelled from the back of the throne room. A dozen Amazons charged in, followed by males in orange jumpsuits. When they saw Arion, they backed up quickly and headed for the battle forklifts.

Hazel vaulted onto Arion's back.

She grinned down at her friends. "I remember seeing that chariot. Follow me, guys!"

She galloped into the larger cavern and scattered a crowd of males. Percy knocked out an Amazon. Daria swept two more off their feet with her swords. Hazel could feel Arion straining to run. He wanted to go full speed, but he needed more room. They had to make it outside.

Hazel bowled into a patrol of Amazons, who scattered in terror at the sight of the horse. For once, Hazel's spatha felt exactly the right length. She swung it at everyone who came within reach. No Amazon dared challenge her.

Percy, Daria, and Frank ran after her. Finally they reached the chariot. Arion stopped by the yoke, and Percy set to work with the reins and harness.

"You've done this before?" Frank asked.

Percy didn't need to answer. His hands flew. In no time the chariot was ready. He jumped aboard and yelled, "Frank, Daria, come on! Hazel, go!"

A battle cry went up behind them. A full army of Amazons stormed into the warehouse. Otrera herself stood astride a battle forklift, her silver hair flowing as she swung her mounted crossbow toward the chariot. "Stop them!" she yelled.

Hazel spurred Arion. They raced across the cavern, weaving around pallets and forklifts. An arrow whizzed past Hazel's head. Something exploded behind her, but she didn't look back.

"The stairs!" Frank yelled. "No way this horse can pull a chariot up that many flights of — OH MY GODS!"

"Nice," Daria muttered. Hazel couldn't help but notice she had been oddly quiet, her body tense like it was in pain.

Thankfully the stairs were wide enough for the chariot, because Arion didn't even slow down. He shot up the steps with the chariot rattling and groaning. Hazel glanced back a few times to make sure her friends hadn't fallen off. Their knuckles were white on the sides of the chariot, their teeth chattering like windup Halloween skulls.

Finally they reached the lobby. Arion crashed through the main doors into the plaza and scattered a bunch of guys in business suits.

Hazel felt the tension in Arion's rib cage. The fresh air was making him crazy to run, but Hazel pulled back on his reins.

"Ella!" Hazel shouted at the sky. "Where are you? We have to leave!"

For a horrible second, she was afraid the harpy might be too far away to hear. She might be lost, or captured by the Amazons.

Behind them a battle forklift clattered up the stairs and roared through the lobby, a mob of Amazons behind it.

"Surrender!" Otrera screamed.

The forklift raised its razor-sharp tines.

"Ella!" Hazel cried desperately.

In a flash of red feathers, Ella landed in the chariot. "Ella is here. Amazons are pointy. Go now."

"Hold on!" Hazel warned. She leaned forward and said, "Arion, run!"

The world seemed to elongate. Sunlight bent around them. Arion shot away from the Amazons and sped through downtown Seattle. Hazel glanced back and saw a line of smoking pavement where Arion's hooves had touched the ground. He thundered toward the docks, leaping over cars, barreling through intersections.

Hazel screamed at the top of her lungs, but it was a scream of delight. For the first time in her life — in her fwo lives — she felt absolutely unstoppable. Arion reached the water and leaped straight off the docks.

Hazel's ears popped. She heard a roar that she later realized was a sonic boom, and Arion tore over Puget Sound, seawater turning to steam in his wake as the skyline of Seattle receded behind them.

* * *

One review for the next chapter please!

~M


	14. thirteen

As they bolted down the Pudget Sound, Daria felt like Arion's hooves were treading on her brain instead of the grass. She remembered what Gaea had said about the Gods cursing her, and Daria knew there was no other explanation for why her body felt like it was on fire.

Ella didn't help matters. She kept muttering: "Seven hundred and fifty miles per hour. Eight hundred. Eight hundred and three. Fast. Very fast." The horse rocketed onto dry land. He followed Highway 99 north, running so fast, the cars seemed to be standing still.

Finally, just as they were getting into Vancouver, the chariot wheels began to smoke.

"Hazel!" Frank yelled. "We're breaking up!"

She got the message and pulled the reins. The horse didn't seem happy about it, but he slowed to subsonic as they zipped through the city streets. They crossed the Ironworkers bridge into North Vancouver, and the chariot started to rattle dangerously. At last Arion stopped at the top of a wooded hill. He snorted with satisfaction, as if to say, _That's how we run, fools_. The smoking chariot collapsed, spilling Daria, Percy, Frank, and Ella onto the wet, mossy ground.

Frank stumbled to his feet. He tried to blink the yellow spots out of his eyes. Percy groaned and started unhitching Arion from the ruined chariot. Daria felt like she was going to throw up. She felt pale and weak, like Percy had looked at Iris's shop. Shakily, Daria played with Jason's necklace, this was ridiculous, she had to snap out of it.

Ella fluttered around in dizzy circles, bonking into the trees and muttering, "Tree. Tree. Tree." Only Hazel seemed unaffected by the ride. Grinning with pleasure, she slid off the horse's back. "That was fun!"

"Yeah." Frank swallowed hard. "So much fun."

Arion whinnied.

"He says he needs to eat," Percy translated. "No wonder. He probably burned about six million calories."

Hazel studied the ground at her feet and frowned. "I'm not sensing any gold around here.. ..Don't worry, Arion. I'll find you some. In the meantime, why don't you go graze? We'll meet you — "

The horse zipped off, leaving a trail of steam in his wake.

Hazel knit her eyebrows. "Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "He seems kind of. ..spirited."

Hazel and Percy started salvaging supplies from the chariot wreckage. There had been a few boxes of random Amazon merchandise in the front, and Ella shrieked with delight when she found a shipment of books. She snatched up a copy of The Birds of North America, fluttered to the nearest branch, and began scratching through the pages so fast, Frank wasn't sure if she was reading or shredding.

Daria sat down by Frank who leaned against a tree, trying to control his vertigo. He probably still hadn't recovered from his Amazon imprisonment — getting kicked across the lobby, disarmed, caged, and insulted as a baby man by an egomaniacal horse. That had to have helped his self-esteem.

Daria sighed and placed her hands behind her, on the roots of the tree, only to feel the sensation of a thousand ants crawling on her hand. She yelped, jerking away from the large oak as Frank glanced at her in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I just-" she broke off as she peered at the base of the tree. There was nothing there. No ants, no spiders...nothing. "Nevermind, I'm fine."

Frank squeezed his eyes shut, only half-listening to her response, "Okay."

She glanced curiously at the roots. Carefully, she placed her hand there again, feeling the roughness under her palm. At once, small green particles made their way to her fingertips, greeting her, asking if she needed their help.

In less than a minute, her headache had vanished. She could feel the blood rushing back into her face and she gazed up in amazement. "Thank you," she whispered.

_Of course, my dear,_ the leaves said back. It was Gaea's voice, she knew that. But, it's not like Daria was doing anything wrong at that moment, she shouldn't feel guilty, right?

She stood up, trying to get her bearings. To the south, across Vancouver Harbor, the downtown skyline gleamed red in the sunset. To the north, the hills and rain forests of some park snaked between the subdivisions of North Vancouver until they gave way to the wilderness.

"I'm practically home," Frank said, gazing around with her. "My grandmother's house is right over there."

Hazel squinted. "How far?"

"Just over the river and through the woods."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? To Grandmother's house we go?"

Frank cleared his throat. "Yeah, anyway."

Hazel clasped her hands in prayer. "Frank, please tell me she'll let us spend the night. I know we're on a deadline, but we've got to rest, right? And Arion saved us some time. Maybe we could get an actual cooked meal?"

"And a hot shower?" Daria pleaded. "And a bed with, like, sheets and a pillow?"

"It's worth a try," Frank decided.

"To Grandmother's house we go." Daria cheered.

Frank was so distracted, he would have walked right into the ogres' camp. Fortunately Percy pulled him back.

They crouched next to Daria, Hazel, and Ella behind a fallen log and peered into the clearing.

"Bad," Ella murmured. "This is bad for harpies."

It was fully dark now. Around a blazing campfire sat half a dozen shaggy-haired humanoids. Standing up, they probably would've been eight feet tall — tiny compared to the giant Polybotes or even the Cyclopes they'd seen in California, but that didn't make them any less scary. They wore only knee-length surfer shorts. Their skin was sunstroke red — covered with tattoos of dragons, hearts, and bikini-clad women. Hanging from a spit over the fire was a skinned animal, maybe a boar, and the ogres were tearing off chunks of meat with their clawlike fingernails, laughing and talking as they ate, baring pointy teeth. Next to the ogres sat several mesh bags filled with bronze spheres like cannonballs. The spheres must have been hot, because they steamed in the cool evening air.

Two hundred yards beyond the clearing, the lights of the Zhang mansion glowed through the trees. _So close_, Frank thought. He wondered if they could sneak around the monsters, but when he looked left and right, he saw more campfires in either direction, as if the ogres had surrounded the property. Frank's fingers dug into the tree bark. His grandmother might be alone inside the house, trapped.

"What are these guys?" he whispered.

"Canadians," Percy said.

Frank leaned away from him. "Excuse me?"

"Uh, no offense," Percy said. "That's what Annabeth called them when I fought them before. She said they live in the north, in Canada."

"Yeah, well," Frank grumbled, "we're in Canada. I'm Canadian. But I've never seen those things before."

Ella plucked a feather from her wings and turned it in her fingers. "Laistrygonians," she said. "Cannibals. Northern giants. Sasquatch legend. Yep, yep. They're not birds. Not birds of North America."

"That's what they're called," Daria agreed. "Laistry — uh, whatever Ella said."

Frank scowled at the dudes in the clearing. "They could be mistaken for Bigfoot. Maybe that's where the legend came from. Ella, you're pretty smart."

"Ella is smart," she agreed. She shyly offered Frank her feather.

"Oh. . .thanks." He stuck the feather in his pocket, then noticed Hazel was glaring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing." She turned to Percy. "So your memory is coming back? Do you remember how you beat these guys?"

"Sort of," Percy said. "It's still fuzzy. I think I had help. We killed them with Celestial bronze, but that was before ... you know."

"Before Death got kidnapped," Hazel said. "So now, they might not die at all."

Daria nodded. "Also, those bronze cannonballs... those are bad news. We used some of them against the giants. They catch fire and blow up."

Frank's hand went to his coat pocket. Then he remembered Hazel had his piece of driftwood. "If we cause any explosions," he said, "the ogres at the other camps will come running. I think they've surrounded the house, which means there could be fifty or sixty of these guys in the woods."

"So it's a trap." Hazel looked at Frank with concern. "What about your grandmother? We've got to help her."

Frank felt a lump in his throat. Never in a million years had he thought his grandmother would need rescuing, but now he started running combat scenarios in his mind — the way he had back at camp during the war games.

"We need a distraction," he decided. "If we can draw this group into the woods, we might sneak through without alerting the others." He cleared his throat, "Uh, if that's okay with you guys."

"It's your quest Frank," Daria patted him on the back. "You've got this." Hazel was frowning lightly once again.

"I wish Arion was here," Hazel said. "I could get the ogres to chase me."

Frank slipped his spear off his back. "I've got another idea."

Frank didn't want to do this. The idea of summoning Gray scared him even more than Hazel's horse. But he didn't see another way.

"Frank, you can't charge out there!" Hazel said. "That's suicide!"

"I'm not charging," Frank said. "I've got a friend. Just... nobody scream, okay?"

He jabbed the spear into the ground, and the point broke off.

"Oops," Ella said. "No spear point. Nope, nope."

The ground trembled. Gray's skeletal hand broke the surface. Percy fumbled for his sword, and Hazel made a sound like a cat with a hairball. Daria's eyes widened. Ella disappeared and rematerialized at the top of the nearest tree.

"It's okay," Frank promised. "He's under control!"

Gray crawled out of the ground. He showed no sign of damage from his previous encounter with the basilisks. He was good as new in his camouflage and combat boots, translucent gray flesh covering his bones like glowing Jell-O. He turned his ghostly eyes toward Frank, waiting for orders.

"Frank, that's a spartus," Daria said. "A skeleton warrior. They're evil. They're killers. They're—"

"I know," Frank said bitterly. "But it's a gift from Mars. Right now that's all I've got. Okay, Gray. Your orders: attack that group of ogres. Lead them off to the west, causing a diversion so we can — "

Unfortunately, Gray lost interest after the word "ogres." Maybe he only understood simple sentences. He charged toward the ogres' campfire.

"Wait!" Frank said, but it was too late. Gray pulled two of his own ribs from his shirt and ran around the fire, stabbing the ogres in the back with such blinding speed they didn't even have time to yell. Six extremely surprised-looking Laistrygonians fell sideways like a circle of dominoes and crumbled into dust.

Gray stomped around, kicking their ashes apart as they tried to re-form. When he seemed satisfied that they weren't coming back, Gray stood at attention, saluted smartly in Frank's direction, and sank into the forest floor.

Percy stared at Frank. "How — "

"No Laistrygonians." Ella fluttered down and landed next to them. "Six minus six is zero. Spears are good for subtraction. Yep."

Hazel looked at Frank as if he'd turned into a zombie skeleton himself. Frank thought his heart might shatter, but he couldn't blame her. Children of Mars were all about violence. Mars's symbol was a bloody spear for good reason. Why shouldn't Hazel be appalled?

He glared down at the broken tip of his spear. He wished he had any father but Mars. "Let's go," he said. "My grandmother might be in trouble."

* * *

Wooo another chapter! So I'm going to actually start replying to comments from now on lol. Sorry I didn't before, I just literally didn't know how to use this website.

milomoch: yes! so the whole percy's relation things doesn't play into the story for a while; the Son of Neptune is more about Daria's interaction with Gaea. I'm glad you were surprised :) thanks for reading!


	15. fourteen

They stopped. As Daria had feared, a loose ring of campfires glowed in the woods, completely surrounding the property, but the house itself seemed untouched.

Wind chimes jangled in the night breeze. The wicker chair sat empty, facing the road. Lights shone through the downstairs windows, but Frank decided against ringing the doorbell. Instead he checked the stone elephant statue in the corner. There was a spare key tucked under its foot.

Frank hesitated at the door.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked.

Daria could feel the tension emanating from the son of Mars. She figured it had been the first time he had returned home since he joined the legion, everything was different now. Daria remembered reading over Frank's letters of recommendation, his family history was terribly complicated, no reason his grandmother wouldn't be as well.

"Frank?" Hazel asked.

"Ella is nervous," the harpy muttered from her perch on the railing. "The elephant — the elephant is looking at Ella."

"It'll be fine." Frank's hand was shaking so badly he could barely fit the key in the lock. "Just stay together."

Inside, the house smelled closed-up and musty. They examined the living room, the dining room, the kitchen. Dirty dishes were stacked in the sink. In the parlor, Buddha statues and Taoist immortals grinned at them like psycho clowns. Daria remembered Iris, the rainbow goddess, who'd been dabbling in Buddhism and Taoism. She figured one visit to this creepy old house would cure her of that.

The fireplace was dark and cold. Hazel hugged her chest. "Is that — "

"Yeah," Frank said. "That's it."

"That's what?" Percy asked.

Hazel's expression was sympathetic, but like Percy, Daria had no idea what they were talking about, and she hated not knowing.

"It's the fireplace," Frank told Percy, which was stupidly obvious. "Come on. Let's check upstairs."

The steps creaked under their feet. They checked Frank's bedroom first, then the other two. The middle two were empty. A dim light flickered under the last door — his grandmother's room.

Frank knocked quietly. No one answered. He pushed open her door. His grandmother lay in bed, looking gaunt and frail, her white hair spread around her face like a basilisk's crown. A single candle burned on the nightstand. Frank seemed to gaze past all that however.

"Mars," Frank said.

She exchanged a glance with Hazel. "Frank?" Hazel whispered. "What do you mean, Mars ? Is your grandmother ... is she okay?"

Frank glanced at his friends. "You don't see him?"

"See who?" Percy gripped his sword. "Mars? Where?"

"Calm down," Daria snapped at him.

Frank clenched his fists. He counted to ten before spoke.

"Guys, it's... it's nothing. Listen, why don't you take the middle bedrooms?''

"Roof," Ella said. "Roofs are good for harpies."

"Sure," Frank said in a daze. "There's probably food in the kitchen. Would you give me a few minutes alone with my grandmother? I think she-"

His voice broke. He looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to cry or scream or punch someone.

Hazel laid her hand on his arm. "Of course, Frank. Come on, you three."

They wandered downstairs to the kitchen and sat wearily at the dining table. Exhaustion was catching up to all of them but Daria had done the least among them so she glided into the pantry in search of something quick. "Ummm," she peered around. "You guys in the mood for noodles?"

"Anything," Percy said, placing his head on the table.

Hazel hummed in agreement, "Here let me help you," she prepared to stand but Daria waved her down.

"Rest," Daria commanded. "You look like you'd set these noodles on fire right now, no offense."

Singing to herself, Daria got to work. It reminded her of Saturday nights with Jason and Reyna where she would cook and they'd just hang out and play board games and watch movies for the night (and perhaps Jason would have to deal with the girls getting a little tipsy).

When Daria really thought about it, this was the longest she had gone without seeing one of them in thirteen years. They were inseparable. Hell, she and Jason had grown up in the same household, eating bhel puri and drinking laasi with nani, their grandmother. She spooned the ramen into three bowls, leaving extra for Frank to heat up later, and added the garnishes. Daria smiled softly, knowing that if Jason were here he'd complain about how they always made food that he didn't like, and then he'd eat half of it, and then he'd go get cereal from the pantry at midnight.

"Dinner is served," she announced, pacing the food in front of them. She relaxed into her own chair as Percy immediately started scarfing down his food.

"This is so good," he mumbled. The differences between him and Jason were palpable, Daria could only wonder how this prophecy would turn out if both were on the quest.

"Hey, Daria," Hazel stirred around her bowl a bit, letting it cool. "I meant to ask back at the Amazon headquarters," she suddenly grew a bit nervous. "And uh, feel free to not answer this but, why do you and Queen Hylla hate each other so much?"

Daria smiled dryly, "According to her, I broke Reyna's heart." They glanced up at that, confused. "First of all, you can't tell Reyna that I told you any of this. But we did almost date when I was what, thirteen? She was fifteen and it was Demigod Prom for all the students."

Percy snickered, "Demigod Prom?"

"Hey," she pointed her spoon at him. "Some of us never got to go to real school. Anyway, long story short we didn't work out and then less than a year later Jason and I started dating so Hylla's convinced I'm the devil." She grinned, "That and I talk back a lot."

"The Jacksons seem to have that in common," Hazel teased. "Anyway, I'm going to go check on Frank. Percy would you..?" She nodded towards her empty bowl.

"Oh yeah, I've got the dishes," he got up and started stacking them together. "See you in the morning Hazel."

"See you- oh wait," Hazel turned to Daria, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "Just a warning, I've been told I snore in my sleep. So if you want I can totally sleep on the couch, really I'll fall asleep anywhere-"

"One of the bedrooms has a bunk bed," Percy interjected, though Daria didn't know when he had figured that out. "We could double up, have some cousinly bonding time if that's cool with you?"

Daria raised an eyebrow. "Bonding time? I don't know about you but I'm sleeping." She made eye contact with Hazel, as if just noticing her standing there. "Go check on Frank, Hazel. I guess I'll manage." She teased at the brown-haired boy who turned around and stuck his tongue out at her on his journey to the sink.

Daria pushed herself up from the table, "I'm going to shower."

"Don't drown."

Daria rolled her eyes, "I'll do my best." She left him singing _Under the Sea_ as he submerged the spoons under a too big heap of bubbles.

The shower and clean clothes were comforting until the next morning, when ogres had started firing at the house yet again. Daria, Percy, and Hazel were on the roof, and Daria was testing out her new found powers, deflecting the cannonballs with large chunks of earth to match Percy's blasts of water. When they'd asked, she replied that she'd always been able to manipulate the earth. Which wasn't a lie. Either way, how would they know the truth?

"Morning," Percy said grimly as Frank joined them. "Beautiful day, huh?"

Hazel gripped her sword. When she glanced at Frank, her eyes flashed with concern. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Why are you smiling?"

"Oh, uh, nothing," he replied. "Thanks for breakfast. And the clothes. And. ..not hating me."

Hazel looked baffled. "Why would I hate you?"

"It's just. ..last night," he stammered. "When I summoned the skeleton. I thought... I thought that you thought... I was repulsive ... or something."

Hazel raised her eyebrows. She shook her head in dismay. "Frank, maybe I was surprised. Maybe I was scared of that thing. But repulsed? The way you commanded it, so confident and everything — like, Oh, by the way, guys, I have this all-powerful spartus we can use. I couldn't believe it. I wasn't repulsed, Frank. I was impressed."

Frank wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "You were... impressed ... by me?"

Percy laughed. "Dude, it was pretty amazing."

"Honest?" Frank asked.

"Honest," Hazel promised. "But right now, we have other problems to worry about. Okay?"

She gestured at the army of ogres, who were getting increasingly bold, shuffling closer and closer to the house.

Percy readied the garden hose. "I've got one more trick up my sleeve. Your lawn has a sprinkler system. I can blow it up and cause some confusion down there, but that'll destroy your water pressure. No pressure, no hose, and those cannonballs are going to plow right into the house." He glanced at Daria, "Unless you can think of anything else."

Daria shrugged, "I honestly don't know what I can do. But cannonballs are made out of metal right? Here let me try something." She waited for them to shoot at them again, squinting as she clenched her fist and drew her hand down sharply. The cannonball melted apart in midair, which would have been impressive if there wasn't a searing pain in her right wrist immediately afterwards

"Shit, owwww," she jumped up and down lightly, cradling her wrist to her chest.

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked.

Daria nodded back, her teeth gritted. _Goddammit_, she cursed. _This couldn't happen every time she tried to help, she needed Gaea to help her more_. Last night she had fallen asleep as Percy was taking his shower, but Gaea hadn't appeared. Maybe she was letting Daria get some much needed rest. Or maybe she was busy doing something that Daria didn't really want to think about.

"Well, that wasn't much help," Percy muttered. She glared at him.

"Guys, I've got an escape plan." Frank told his friends about the plane waiting at the airfield, and his grandmother's note for the pilot. "He's a legion veteran. He'll help us."

"But Arion's not back," Hazel said. "And what about your grandmother? We can't just leave her."

Frank choked. "Maybe — maybe Arion will find us. As for my grandmother. . .she was pretty clear. She said she'd be okay."

"There's another problem," Percy said. "I'm not good with air travel. It's dangerous for a son of Neptune." She wondered how a daughter of Gaea would fare in the air, but obviously, she couldn't say that out loud.

"You'll have to risk it... and so will I," Frank said. "By the way, we're related." Percy almost stumbled off the roof. "What?"

Frank gave them the five-second version: "Periclymenus. Ancestor on my mom's side. Argonaut. Grandson of Poseidon."

Hazel's mouth fell open. "You're a — a descendant of Neptune? Frank, that's — "

"Crazy? Yeah. And there's this ability my family has, supposedly. But I don't know how to use it. If I can't figure it out — "

Another massive cheer went up from the Laistrygonians. Daria realized they were staring up at him, pointing and waving and laughing. They had spotted their breakfast.

"Zhang!" they yelled. "Zhang!"

Daria stepped away from the edge. "They keep doing that. Why are they yelling your name?"

"Never mind," Frank said. "Listen, we've got to protect Ella, take her with us."

"Of course," Hazel said. "The poor thing needs our help."

"No," Frank said. "I mean yes, but it's not just that. She recited a prophecy downstairs. I think... I think it was about this quest."

He told them the bad news, about a son of Neptune drowning.

Percy's jaw tightened. "I don't know how a son of Neptune can drown. I can breathe underwater. But the crown of the legion — "

"That's got to be the eagle," Daria perked up.

Percy nodded. "And Ella recited something like this once before, in Portland — a line from the old Great Prophecy."

"The what?" Frank asked.

"Tell you later." Percy turned his garden hose and shot another cannonball out of the sky.

It exploded in an orange fireball. The ogres clapped with appreciation and yelled, "Pretty! Pretty!"

"The thing is," Frank said, "Ella remembers everything she reads. She said something about the page being burned, like she'd read a damaged text of prophecies."

Hazel's eyes widened. "Burned books of prophecy? You don't think — but that's impossible!"

"The books Octavian wanted, back at camp?" Percy guessed.

Daria whistled under her breath. "The lost Sibylline books that outlined the entire destiny of Rome. If Ella actually read a copy somehow, and memorized it — "

"Then she's the most valuable harpy in the world," Frank said. "No wonder Phineas wanted to capture her."

"Frank Zhang!" an ogre shouted from below. He was bigger than the rest, wearing a lion's cape like a Roman standard bearer and a plastic bib with a lobster on it. "Come down, son of Mars! We've been waiting for you. Come, be our honored guest!"

Hazel gripped Frank's arm. "Why do I get the feeling that 'honored guest' means the same thing as 'dinner'?"

He looked at Percy. "Can you drive?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Grandmother's car is in the garage. It's an old Cadillac. The thing is like a tank. If you can get it started — "

"We'll still have to break through a line of ogres," Hazel said.

"The sprinkler system," Percy said. "Use it as a distraction?"

"Exactly," Frank said. "I'll buy you as much time as I can. Get Ella, and get in the car. I'll try to meet you in the garage, but don't wait for me."

Percy frowned. "Frank — "

"Give us your answer, Frank Zhang!" the ogre yelled up. "Come down, and we will spare the others — your friends, your poor old granny. We only want you!"

"I'm coming with you," Daria muttered, drawing her swords.

"Fine," Frank agreed. "Hazel, Percy, go!"

Daria's friends ran for the ladder.

She could basically hear the beating of Frank's heart. He grinned and yelled, "Hey, down there! Who's hungry?" The ogres cheered as Frank paced along the widow's walk and waved like a rock star

The ogres started to become restless. The cheering turned to catcalls. A few Laistrygonians hefted their cannonballs.

"Hold on!" Frank yelled. "You don't want to char us, do you? I won't taste very good that way."

"Come down" they yelled. "Hungry!"

Daria grimaced, "Now what?" Frank looked back, mild panic in his eyes.

"Do you promise to spare my friends?" Frank asked. "Do you swear on the River Styx?"

The ogres laughed. One threw a cannonball that arced over Frank's head and blew up the chimney. By some miracle, they weren't hit with shrapnel.

"I'll take that as a no," Daria muttered.

"Okay, fine! You win! I'll be right down. Wait there!" The ogres cheered, but their leader in the lion's-skin cape scowled suspiciously.. Frank descended the ladder into the attic, with Daria following after him cautiously. Ella was gone. She hoped that was a good sign. Maybe they'd gotten her to the Cadillac. Frank grabbed an extra quiver of arrows labeled assorted varieties in his mother's neat printing. Then he ran to the machine gun.

"Frank," They had never dealt with machine guns at camp, at least Daria hadn't. "Are you sure you want to-"

He swiveled the barrel, took aim at the lead ogre, and pressed the trigger. Eight high-powered spuds blasted the giant in the chest, propelling him backward with such force that he crashed into a stack of bronze cannonballs, which promptly exploded, leaving a smoking crater in the yard.

Apparently starch was bad for ogres.

While the rest of the monsters ran around in confusion, Frank pulled his bow and rained arrows on them. Some of the missiles detonated on impact. Others splintered like buckshot and left the giants with some painful new tattoos. One hit an ogre and instantly turned him into a potted rosebush.

Daria did what she had been doing. Manipulating the earth instead of trying to melt the cannons. A couple of the ogres fell under the impact like bowling pins.

Unfortunately, the ogres recovered quickly. They began throwing cannonballs — dozens at a time. The whole house groaned under the impact.

They ran for the stairs. The attic disintegrated behind them. Smoke and fire poured down the second-floor hallway.

"Grandmother!" Frank cried, but the heat was so intense, he couldn't reach her room. Daria shook her head grimly, she was scared too, one wrong move and the fire would kill them raced to the ground floor, clinging to the banister as the house shook and huge chunks of the ceiling collapsed.

The base of the staircase was a smoking crater. Frank and Daria leaped over it and stumbled through the kitchen. Choking from the ash and soot, they burst into the garage. The Cadillac's headlights were on. The engine was running and the garage door was opening.

"Get in!" Percy yelled.

Frank dove in the back next to Hazel and Ella, who was curled up, her head tucked under her wings, muttering, "Yikes. Yikes. Yikes." Daria sprinted to the passenger seat like she was back at boot camp again.

Percy gunned the engine. They shot out of the garage before it was fully open, leaving a Cadillac-shaped hole of splintered wood. The ogres ran to intercept, but Percy shouted at the top of his lungs, and the irrigation system exploded. A hundred geysers shot into the air along with clods of dirt, pieces of pipe, and very heavy sprinkler heads.

The Cadillac was going about forty when they hit the first ogre, who disintegrated on impact. By the time the other monsters overcame their confusion, the Cadillac was half a mile down the road. Flaming cannonballs burst behind them.

They drove through the woods and headed north.

"About three miles!" Frank said. "You can't miss it!"

Behind them, more explosions ripped through the forest. Smoke boiled into the sky.

"How fast can Laistrygonians run?" Hazel asked.

"Let's not find out," Daria said.

The gates of the airfield appeared before them — only a few hundred yards away. A private jet idled on the runway. Its stairs were down.

The Cadillac hit a pothole and went airborne. Daria's head slammed into the ceiling. When the wheels touched the ground, Percy floored the brakes, and they swerved to a stop just inside the gates.

Frank climbed out and drew his bow. "Get to the plane! They're coming!"

The Laistrygonians were closing in with alarming speed. The first line of ogres burst out of the woods and barreled toward the airfield — five hundred yards away, four hundred yards...

Daria and Hazel managed to get Ella out of the Cadillac, but as soon as the harpy saw the airplane, she began to shriek.

"N-n-no!" she yelped. "Fly with wings! N-n-no airplanes."

"It's okay," Hazel promised. "We'll protect you!"

Ella made a horrible, painful wail like she was being burned.

Percy held up his hands in exasperation. "What do we do? We can't force her."

"No," Frank agreed. The ogres were three hundred yards out.

"She's too valuable to leave behind," Hazel said. Then she winced at her own words. "Gods, I'm sorry, Ella. I sound as bad as Phineas. You're a living thing, not a treasure."

"No planes. N-n-no planes." Ella was hyperventilating.

The ogres were almost in throwing distance.

Percy's eyes lit up. "I've got an idea. Ella, can you hide in the woods? Will you be safe from the ogres?"

"Hide," she agreed. "Safe. Hiding is good for harpies. Ella is quick. And small. And fast."

"Okay," Percy said. "Just stay around this area. I can send a friend to meet you and take you to Camp Jupiter."

Frank unslung his bow and nocked an arrow. "A friend?"

Percy waved his hand in a tell you later gesture. "Ella, would you like that? Would you like my friend to take you to Camp Jupiter and show you our home?"

"Camp," Ella muttered. Then in Latin: '"Wisdom's daughter walks alone , the Mark of Athena burns through Rome."

"Uh, right," Percy said. "That sounds important, but we can talk about that later. You'll be safe at camp. All the books and food you want."

"No planes," she insisted.

"No planes," Percy agreed.

"Ella will hide now." Just like that, she was gone — a red streak disappearing into the woods.

"I'll miss her," Hazel said sadly.

"We'll see her again," Percy promised, but he frowned uneasily, as if he were really troubled by that last bit of prophecy — the thing about Athena.

An explosion sent the airfield's gate spinning into the air.

Frank tossed his grandmother's letter to Percy. "Show that to the pilot! Show him your letter from Reyna too! We've got to take off now"

Percy nodded. He, Daria, and Hazel ran for the plane. Once inside, Percy rapidly started talking to the pilot. Daria heard Hazel yell, "Frank, come on!" So many things were happening at the same time, and for the first time in a while Daria felt utterly useless.

The pilot must've understood the situation just fine. There was no safety announcement, no pre-flight drink, and no waiting for clearance. He pushed the throttle, and the plane shot down the runway. Another blast ripped through the runway behind them, but then they were in the air.

Daria looked down and saw the airstrip riddled with craters like a piece of burning Swiss cheese. Swaths of Lynn Canyon Park were on fire. A few miles to the south, a swirling pyre of flames and black smoke was all that remained of the Zhang family mansion.

The plane banked to the left.

Over the intercom, the pilot's voice said, "Senatus Populusque Romanus, my friends. Welcome aboard. Next stop: Anchorage, Alaska."

* * *

Chapter 14! A bit about Daria and Jason since that's what the story's supposed to be about. 1 review for the next chapter please.

~M


	16. fifteen

Airplanes or cannibals? no contest.

Percy would've preferred driving Grandma Zhang's Cadillac all the way to Alaska with fireball-throwing ogres on his tail rather than sitting in a luxury Gulf stream.

He'd flown before. The details were hazy, but he remembered a pegasus named Blackjack. He'd even been in a plane once or twice. But a son of Neptune (Poseidon, whatever) didn't belong in the air. Every time the plane hit a spot of turbulence, Percy's heart raced, and he was sure Jupiter was slapping them around.

Daria looked just as uneasy as he was. Her right hand was clenching the arm rest and her left was drumming some sort of pattern. Obviously, she was the daughter of some kind of earth goddess; Demeter perhaps.

He tried to focus as Frank and Hazel talked. Hazel was reassuring Frank that he'd done everything he could for his grandmother. Frank had saved them from the Laistrygonians and gotten them out of Vancouver. He'd been incredibly brave.

Frank kept his head down like he was ashamed to have been crying, but Percy didn't blame him. The poor guy had just lost his grandmother and seen his house go up in flames. As far as Percy was concerned, shedding a few tears about something like that didn't make you any less of a man, especially when you had just fended off an army of ogres that wanted to eat you for breakfast.

Percy still couldn't get over the fact that Frank was a distant relative. Frank would be his...what? Great-times-a-thousand nephew? Too weird for words.

Frank refused to explain exactly what his "family gift" was, but as they flew north, Frank did tell them about his conversation with Mars the night before. He explained the prophecy Juno had issued when he was a baby — about his life being tied to a piece of firewood, and how he had asked Hazel to keep it for him.

Some of that, Percy had already figured out. Hazel and Frank had obviously shared some crazy experiences when they had blacked out together, and they'd made some sort of deal. It also explained why even now, out of habit, Frank kept checking his coat pocket, and why he was so nervous around fire. Still, Percy couldn't imagine what kind of courage it had taken for Frank to embark on a quest, knowing that one small flame could snuff out his life.

"Frank," he said, "I'm proud to be related to you."

Frank's ears turned red. With his head lowered, his military haircut made a sharp black arrow pointing down. "Juno has some sort of plan for us, about the Prophecy of Eight."

"Yeah," Percy grumbled. "I didn't like her as Hera. I don't like her any better as Juno." Daria tucked her feet underneath her. She studied Percy with her sharp green eyes, and he wondered how he could never get a read on her, yet trust her so much. Ever since she had found out about her boyfriend being alive, there was a new spark in her, and now, Percy would be terrified to be at the receiving end of anything his cousin could dish out.

"You're a son of Poseidon, aren't you?" she asked. "You are a Greek demigod."

Percy gripped his leather necklace. "I started to remember in Portland, after the gorgon's blood. It's been coming back to me slowly since then. There's another camp — Camp Half-Blood."

Just saying the name made Percy feel warm inside. Good memories washed over him: the smell of strawberry fields in the warm summer sun, fireworks lighting up the beach on the Fourth of July, satyrs playing panpipes at the nightly campfire, and a kiss at the bottom of the canoe lake.

Hazel and Frank stared at him as though he'd slipped into another language. Daria however, didn't look as surprised as he expected.

"Another camp," Hazel repeated. "A Greek camp? Gods, if Octavian found out — "

"He'd declare war," Frank said. "He's always been sure the Greeks were out there, plotting against us. He thought Percy was a spy."

"That's why Juno sent me," Percy said. "Uh, I mean, not to spy. I think it was some kind of exchange. Your friend Jason — I think he was sent to my camp. In my dreams, I saw a demigod that might have been him. He was working with some other demigods on this flying warship. I think they're coming to Camp Jupiter to help."

Daria touched the silver necklace she wore, "I wouldn't put it past Juno. If Jason's at the other camp, then he's part of the prophecy with those other demigods, and so are we."

Frank tapped nervously on the back of his seat. "Mars said Juno wants to unite the Greeks and Romans to fight Gaea. But, jeez — Greeks and Romans have a long history of bad blood."

Hazel took a deep breath. "That's probably why the gods have kept us apart this long. If a Greek warship appeared in the sky above Camp Jupiter, and Reyna didn't know it was friendly — "

"Yeah," Daria agreed. "We've got to be careful how we explain this when we get back."

"If we get back," Frank said.

Percy nodded reluctantly. "I mean, I trust you guys. I hope you trust me. I feel. . .well, I feel as close to you three as to any of my old friends at Camp Half-Blood. But with the other demigods, at both camps — there's going to be a lot of suspicion."

Hazel did something he wasn't expecting. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was totally a sisterly kiss. But she smiled with such affection, it warmed Percy right down to his feet.

"Of course we trust you," she said. "We're a family now. Aren't we, Frank?"

"Sure," he said. "Do I get a kiss?" Daria snorted.

Hazel laughed, but there was nervous tension in it. "Anyway, what do we do now?"

Percy took a deep breath. Time was slipping away.

They were almost halfway through June twenty-third, and tomorrow was the Feast of Fortuna. "I've got to contact a friend — to keep my promise to Ella."

"How?" Frank said. "One of those Iris-messages?"

"Still not working," Percy said sadly. "I tried it last night at your grandmother's house. No luck. Maybe it's because my memories are still jumbled. Or the gods aren't allowing a connection. I'm hoping I can contact my friend in my dreams."

Another bump of turbulence made him grab his seat. Below them, snowcapped mountains broke through a blanket of clouds.

"I'm not sure I can sleep," Percy said. "But I need to try. We can't leave Ella by herself with those ogres around."

"Yeah," Daria said. "We've still got hours to fly. Take the couch, Perce."

Percy nodded. He felt lucky to have his friends watching out for him. What he'd said to them was true — he trusted them. In the weird, terrifying, horrible experience of losing his memory and getting ripped out of his old life — Daria, Hazel, and Frank were the bright spots.

He stretched out, closed his eyes, and dreamed he was falling from a mountain of ice toward a cold sea.

The dream shifted. He was back in Vancouver, standing in front of the ruins of the Zhang mansion. The Laistrygonians were gone. The mansion was reduced to a burned-out shell. A crew of firefighters was packing up their equipment, getting ready to move out. The lawn looked like a war zone, with smoking craters and trenches from the blown-out irrigation pipes.

At the edge of the forest, a giant shaggy black dog was bounding around, sniffing the trees. The firefighters completely ignored him.

Beside one of the craters knelt a Cyclops in oversized jeans, boots, and a massive flannel shirt. His messy brown hair was spattered with rain and mud. When he raised his head, his big brown eye was red from crying.

"Close!" he moaned. "So close, but gone!"

It broke Percy's heart to hear the pain and worry in the big guy's voice, but he knew they only had a few seconds to talk. The edges of the vision were already dissolving. If Alaska was the land beyond the gods, Percy figured the farther north he went, the harder it would be to communicate with his friends, even in his dreams.

"Tyson!" he called.

The Cyclops looked around frantically. "Percy? Brother?"

"Tyson, I'm okay. I'm here — well, not really."

Tyson grabbed the air like he was trying to catch butterflies. "Can't see you! Where is my brother?"

"Tyson, I'm flying to Alaska. I'm okay. I'll be back. Just find Ella. She's a harpy with red feathers. She's hiding in the woods around the house."

"Find a harpy? A red harpy?"

"Yes! Protect her, okay? She's my friend. Get her back to California. There's a demigod camp in the Oakland Hills — Camp Jupiter. Meet me above the Caldecott Tunnel."

"Oakland Hills ... California ... Caldecott Tunnel." He shouted to the dog: "Mrs. O'Leary! We must find a harpy!"

"WOOF!" said the dog.

Tyson's face started to dissolve. "My brother is okay? My brother is coming back? I miss you!"

"I miss you, too." Percy tried to keep his voice from cracking. "I'll see you soon. Just be careful! There's a giant's army marching south. Tell Annabeth — "

The dream shifted.

Percy found himself standing in the hills north of Camp Jupiter, looking down at the Field of Mars and New Rome. At the legion's fort, horns were blowing. Campers scrambled to muster.

The giant's army was arrayed to Percy's left and right — centaurs with bull's horns, the six-armed Earthborn, and evil Cyclopes in scrap-metal armor. The Cyclopes' siege tower cast a shadow across the feet of the giant Polybotes, who grinned down at the Roman camp. He paced eagerly across the hill, snakes dropping from his green dreadlocks, his dragon legs stomping down small trees. On his green-blue armor, the decorative faces of hungry monsters seemed to blink in the shadows.

"Yes," he chuckled, planting his trident in the ground. "Blow your little horns, Romans. I've come to destroy you! Stheno!"

The gorgon scrambled out of the bushes. Her lime green viper hair and Bargain Mart vest clashed horribly with the giant's color scheme.

"Yes, master!" she said. "Would you like a Puppy-in-a- Blanket?"

She held up a tray of free samples.

"Hmm," Polybotes said. "What sort of puppy?"

"Ah, they're not actually puppies. They're tiny hot dogs in crescent rolls, but they're on sale this week — "

"Bah! Nevermind, then! Are our forces ready to attack?"

"Oh — " Stheno stepped back quickly to avoid getting flattened by the giant's foot. "Almost, great one. Ma Gasket and half her Cyclopes stopped in Napa. Something about a winery tour? They promised to be here by tomorrow evening."

"What?" The giant looked around, as if just noticing that a big portion of his army was missing. "Gah! That Cyclops woman will give me an ulcer. Winery tour?"

"I think there was cheese and crackers, too," Stheno said helpfully. "Though Bargain Mart has a much better deal."

Polybotes ripped an oak tree out of the ground and threw it into the valley. "Cyclopes! I tell you, Stheno, when I destroy Neptune and take over the oceans, we will renegotiate the Cyclopes' labor contract. Ma Gasket will learn her place! Now, what news from the north?"

"The demigods have left for Alaska," Stheno said. "They fly straight to their death. Ah, small 'd' death, I mean. Not our prisoner Death. Although, I suppose they're flying to him too."

Polybotes growled. "Alcyoneus had better spare the son of Neptune as he promised. I want that one chained at my feet, so I can kill him when the time is ripe. His blood shall water the stones of Mount Olympus and wake the Earth Mother! What word from the Amazons?"

"Only silence," Stheno said. "We do not yet know the winner of last night's duel, but it is only a matter of time before Otrera prevails and comes to our aid."

"Hmm." Polybotes absently scratched some vipers out of his hair. "Perhaps it's just as well we wait, then. Tomorrow at sundown is Fortuna's Feast. By then, we must invade — Amazons or no. In the meantime, dig in! We set up camp here, on high ground."

"Yes, great one!" Stheno announced to the troops: "Puppiesin-Blankets for everyone!"

The monsters cheered.

Polybotes spread his hands in front of him, taking in the valley like a panoramic picture. "Yes, blow your little horns, demigods. Soon, the legacy of Rome will be destroyed for the last time!"

The dream faded.

Percy woke with a jolt as the plane started its descent.

Daria yawned before turning to him. "Sleep okay?" There was worry etched into her eyebrow and Percy wondered what she had dreamt about.

Percy sat up groggily. "How long was I out?"

Frank stood in the aisle, wrapping his spear and new bow in his ski bag. "A few hours," he said. "We're almost there."

Percy looked out the window. A glittering inlet of the sea snaked between snowy mountains. In the distance, a city was carved out of the wilderness, surrounded by lush green forests on one side and icy black beaches on the other.

"Welcome to Alaska," Hazel said. "We're beyond the help of the gods."

* * *

milomochi: honestly, Daria and Percy are my favorite relationship to write. Just because Hazel and Frank are too sweet to quip back and forth like the Jacksons do.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review/fav :)))

~M


	17. sixteen

The pilot said the plane couldn't wait for them , but that was okay with Daria. If they survived till the next day, she hoped they could find a different way back — anything but a plane.

She should've been depressed. She was stuck in Alaska, the giant's home territory, out of contact with anyone from Camp Jupiter, her home for the last thirteen years.. Plus, tomorrow evening was the Feast of Fortuna. She, Percy, Frank, and Hazel had an impossible task to complete before then. At best, they would unleash Death, who might take Daria's two friends and her only relative to the Underworld. Not much to look forward to.

Still, Daria felt strangely invigorated. Her training with Gaea was teaching her how to be increasingly more powerful. The goddess had taught her how to use her powers without significant restraint from the Gods. It was all in the practice, once she got used to the pain, it couldn't hold her back.

The second question was Percy. Juno had stolen his memory and sent him to Camp Jupiter for a reason. She understood that now. Daria still wanted to punch her in her godly face, but at least she got her reasoning. If the two camps could work together, they stood a chance of stopping their mutual enemies. Separately, both camps were doomed.

And then there was Jason. She couldn't stop thinking about him, how she would see him in a couple of days. After the last few months, this final stretch should've been nothing to her. Instead, it was everything. She had no doubt in her mind that he felt the same way; she knew him too well to think anything different.

As they took a taxi into downtown Anchorage, Percy told them about his dreams. Daria was anxious but not surprised when he told them about the giant's army closing in on camp.

Frank choked when he heard about Tyson. "You have a half-brother who's a Cyclops?"

"Sure," Percy said. "Which makes him your great-great-great — "

"Please." Frank covered his ears. "Enough."

"As long as he can get Ella to camp," Hazel said. "I'm worried about her."

The taxi turned on Highway One, which looked more like a small street to Daria, and took them north toward downtown. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high in the sky.

"I can't believe how much this place has grown," Hazel muttered.

The taxi driver grinned in the rearview mirror. "Been a long time since you visited, miss?"

"About seventy years," Hazel said.

The driver slid the glass partition closed and drove on in silence.

According to Hazel, almost none of the buildings were the same, but she pointed out features of the landscape: the vast forests ringing the city, the cold, gray waters of Cook Inlet tracing the north edge of town, and the Chugach Mountains rising grayish-blue in the distance, capped with snow even in June. Dari had never smelled air this clean before. The town itself had a weather-beaten look to it, with closed stores, rusted-out cars, and worn apartment complexes lining the road, but it was still beautiful. Lakes and huge stretches of woods cut through the middle. The arctic sky was an amazing combination of turquoise and gold.

Then there were the giants. Dozens of bright-blue men, each thirty feet tall with gray frosty hair, were wading through the forests, fishing in the bay, and striding across the mountains. The mortals didn't seem to notice them. The taxi passed within a few yards of one who was sitting at the edge of a lake washing his feet, but the driver didn't panic.

"Urn..." Frank pointed at the blue guy.

"Hyperboreans," Percy said. He looked like he was amazed he remembered that name. "Northern giants. I fought some when Kronos invaded Manhattan."

Daria hummed, "Like when Krios invaded Mount Tam."

"Yeah, probably. Anyway, these guys look...1 don't know, peaceful."

"They usually are," Hazel agreed. "I remember them. They're everywhere in Alaska, like bears."

"Bears?" Frank said nervously.

"The giants are invisible to mortals," Hazel said. "They never bothered me, though one almost stepped on me by accident once."

That sounded fairly bothersome to Daria, but the taxi kept driving. None of the giants paid them any attention. One stood right at the intersection of Northern Lights Road, straddling the highway, and they drove between his legs. The Hyperborean was cradling a Native American totem pole wrapped in furs, humming to it like a baby. If the guy hadn't been the size of a building, he would've been almost cute.

The taxi drove through downtown, past a bunch of tourists' shops advertising furs, Native American art, and gold. Daria hoped Hazel wouldn't get agitated and make the jewelry shops explode.

As the driver turned and headed toward the seashore, Hazel knocked on the glass partition. "Here is good. Can you let us out?"

They paid the driver and stepped onto Fourth Street. Compared to Vancouver, downtown Anchorage was tiny — more like a college campus than a city, but Hazel looked amazed.

"It's huge," she said. "That — that's where the Gitchell Hotel used to be. My mom and I stayed there our first week in Alaska. And they've moved City Hall. It used to be there."

She led them in a daze for a few blocks. They didn't really have a plan beyond finding the fastest way to the Hubbard Glacier, but Daria smelled something cooking nearby — sausage, maybe? She shared a glance with Percy.

"Food," he said. "Come on."

They found a cafe right by the beach. It was bustling with people, but they scored a table at the window and perused the menus.

Frank whooped with delight. "Twenty-four-hour breakfast!"

"It's, like, dinnertime," Percy said, though you couldn't tell from looking outside. The sun was so high, it could've been noon.

"I love breakfast," Frank said. "I'd eat breakfast, breakfast, and breakfast if I could. Though, um, I'm sure the food here isn't as good as Hazel's."

Hazel elbowed him, but her smile was playful.

Seeing them like that made Daria happy. Those two definitely needed to get together.

"You know," Percy said, "breakfast sounds great."

They all ordered massive plates of eggs, pancakes, and reindeer sausage, though Daria was a little worried at the reindeer "You think it's okay that we're eating Rudolph?"

"Dars," Percy said, "I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I'm hungry."

The food was excellent. Daria had never seen anyone eat as fast as Frank. The red-nosed reindeer did not stand a chance.

Between bites of blueberry pancake, Hazel drew a squiggly curve and an X on her napkin. "So this is what I'm thinking. We're here." She tapped X. "Anchorage."

"It looks like a seagull's face," Percy said. "And we're the eye."

Hazel glared at him. "It's a map, Percy. Anchorage is at the top of this sliver of ocean, Cook Inlet. There's a big peninsula of land below us, and my old home town, Seward, is at the bottom of the peninsula, here." She drew another X at the base of the seagull's throat. "That's the closest town to the Hubbard Glacier. We could go around by sea, I guess, but it would take forever. We don't have that kind of time."

Frank polished off the last of his Rudolph. "But land is dangerous," he said. "Land means Gaea."

Hazel nodded. "I don't see that we've got much choice, though. We could have asked our pilot to fly us down, but I don't know... his plane might be too big for the little Seward airport. And if we chartered another plane — "

"No more planes," Percy said, and Daria made a small sound of agreement. "Please."

Hazel held up her hand in a placating gesture. "It's okay. There's a train that goes from here to Seward. We might be able to catch one tonight. It only takes a couple of hours."

She drew a dotted line between the two X's.

"You just cut off the seagull's head," Daria noted.

Hazel sighed. "It's the train line. Look, from Seward, the Hubbard Glacier is down here somewhere." She tapped the lower right corner of her napkin. "That's where Alcyoneus is."

"But you're not sure how far?" Frank asked.

Hazel frowned and shook her head. "I'm pretty sure it's only accessible by boat or plane."

"Boat," Percy said immediately.

"Fine," Hazel said. "It shouldn't be too far from Seward. If we can get to Seward safely."

Daria gazed out the window. So much to do, and only twenty-four hours left. This time tomorrow, the Feast of Fortuna would be starting. Unless they unleashed Death and made it back to camp, the giant's army would flood into the valley. The Romans would be the main course at a monster dinner.

Across the street, a frosty black sand beach led down to the sea, which was as smooth as steel. The ground here felt different — still powerful, but freezing, slow, and primal. No gods controlled the earth here, at least no gods that disliked Daria.

A Hyperborean giant lumbered across the street. Nobody in the cafe noticed. The giant stepped into the bay, cracking the ice under his sandals, and thrust his hands in the water. He brought out a killer whale in one fist. Apparently that wasn't what he wanted, because he threw the whale back and kept wading.

"Good breakfast," Frank said. "Who's ready for a train ride?"

The station wasn't far. They were just in time to buy tickets for the last train south. As they climbed on board, Percy said, "Be with you in a sec," and ran back into the station.

She saw him try to make a phone call, waiting for a few seconds before he put down the receiver. The train whistle sounded. The conductor shouted, "All aboard." Percy ran. He made it just as they were pulling up the steps, then climbed to the top of the double-decker car and slid into his seat.

Hazel frowned. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he croaked. "Just.. .made a call."

She got that. They didn't ask for details.

Soon they were heading south along the coast, watching the landscape go by. Daria tried to think about the quest, but for an ADHD kid like her, the train wasn't the easiest place to concentrate.

Cool things kept happening outside. Bald eagles soared overhead. The train raced over bridges and along cliffs where glacial waterfalls tumbled thousands of feet down the rocks. They passed forests buried in snowdrifts, big artillery guns (to set off small avalanches and prevent uncontrolled ones, Hazel explained), and lakes so clear, they reflected the mountains like mirrors, so the world looked upside down.

Brown bears lumbered through the meadows. Hyperborean giants kept appearing in the strangest places. One was lounging in a lake like it was a hot tub. Another was using a pine tree as a toothpick. A third sat in a snowdrift, playing with two live moose like they were action figures. The train was full of tourists ohhing and ahhing and snapping pictures, but Daria felt sorry they couldn't see the Hyperboreans. They were missing the really good shots.

Meanwhile, Frank studied a map of Alaska that he'd found in the seat pocket. He located Hubbard Glacier, which looked discouragingly far away from Seward. He kept running his finger along the coastline, frowning with concentration.

"What are you thinking?" Percy asked.

"Just... possibilities," Frank said.

She figured like her, Percy didn't know what that meant, but he let it go.

After about an hour, Daria started to relax. They bought hot chocolate from the dining car, no cinnamon, unfortunately. The seats were warm and comfortable, and she thought about taking a nap.

Then a shadow passed overhead. Tourists murmured in excitement and started taking pictures.

"Eagle!" one yelled.

"Eagle?" said another.

"Huge eagle!" said a third.

"That's not an eagle, is it?" Daria groaned.

She looked up just in time to see the creature make a second pass. It was definitely larger than an eagle, with a sleek black body the size of a Labrador retriever. Its wingspan was at least ten feet across.

"There's another one!" Frank pointed. "Strike that. Three, four. Okay, we're in trouble."

The creatures circled the train like vultures, delighting the tourists. Daria wasn't delighted. The monsters had glowing red eyes, sharp beaks, and vicious talons.

Percy felt for his pen in his pocket. "Those things look familiar..."

"Seattle," Hazel said. "The Amazons had one in a cage. They're — "

Then several things happened at once. The emergency brake screeched, pitching them forward. Tourists screamed and tumbled through the aisles. The monsters swooped down, shattering the glass roof of the car, and the entire train toppled off the rails.

Daria went weightless.

Her vision blurred. She saw claws grabbed Percy's arms and lift him into the air. Below, train wheels squealed and metal crashed. Glass shattered. Passengers screamed.

Daria scrambled to meet Frank and Hazel at the snowbank. The two of them were standing back to back, Frank trying to get a shot at the gryphon that had a hold of Percy. There wasn't much she could do right now except draw her swords and wait until one of them reached her level. Which was quite short, unfortunately.

Frank got his shot. Percy fell, crashing through tree branches until he slammed into a snowbank. He groaned, looking up at a massive pine tree he'd just shredded.

The gryphons finally got close enough for Daria to swing at them. She went right back to her Roman techniques, shredding through monster after monster, but they kept re-forming immeadiately.

"Are you seeing this?" She asked.

Percy agreed grimly, "What are these things?" he yelled.

"Gryphons!" Hazel said. "We have to get them away from the train!"

Daria saw what she meant. The train cars had fallen over, and their roofs had shattered. Tourists were stumbling around in shock. Daria didn't see anybody seriously injured, but the gryphons were swooping toward anything that moved. The only thing keeping them away from the mortals was a glowing gray warrior in camouflage — Frank's pet spartus.

"Used your last charge?"

"Yeah." Frank shot another gryphon out of the sky. "I had to help the mortals. The spear just dissolved."

"Let's move the fight!" Percy said. "Away from the tracks!" They stumbled through the snow, smacking and slicing gryphons that re-formed from dust every time they were killed.

Daria had had no experience with gryphons. She'd always imagined them as huge noble animals, like lions with wings, but these things reminded her more of vicious pack hunters — flying hyenas.

About fifty yards from the tracks, the trees gave way to an open marsh. The ground was so spongy and icy, Daria felt like she was racing across Bubble Wrap. Frank was running out of arrows. Hazel was breathing hard. Percy's sword swings were getting slower. She realized they were alive only because the gryphons weren't trying to kill them. The gryphons wanted to pick them up and carry them off somewhere.

Maybe to their nests, Daria thought.

Then Percy tripped over something in the tall grass — a circle of scrap metal about the size of a tractor tire. It was, in fact, a massive bird's nest — a gryphon's nest — the bottom littered with old pieces of jewelry, an Imperial gold dagger, a dented centurion's badge, and two pumpkin-sized eggs that looked like real gold.

Percy jumped into the nest. He pressed his sword tip against one of the eggs. "Back off, or I break it!"

The gryphons squawked angrily. They buzzed around the nest and snapped their beaks, but they didn't attack. Hazel and Frank stood back to back with Daria and Percy, their weapons ready.

"Gryphons collect gold," Hazel said. "They're crazy for it. Look — more nests over there."

Frank nocked his last arrow. "So if these are their nests, where were they trying to take Percy? That thing was flying away with him."

Daria's arms were getting tired. "Alcyoneus," she guessed. "Maybe they're working for him. Are these things smart enough to take orders?"

"I don't know," Hazel said. "I never fought them when I lived here. I just read about them at camp." Ah, that was embarrassing, but Daria never read for her classes. It was one thing that Jason always admonished her for.

"Weaknesses?" Frank asked. "Please tell me they have weaknesses."

Hazel scowled. "Horses. They hate horses — natural enemies, or something. I wish Arion was here!"

The gryphons shrieked. They swirled around the nest with their red eyes glowing.

"Guys," Frank said nervously, "I see legion relics in this nest."

"I know," Daria said.

"That means other demigods died here, or — "

"Frank, it'll be okay," she promised

One of the gryphons dived in. Percy raised his sword, ready to stab the egg. The monster veered off, but the other gryphons were losing their patience. Percy couldn't keep this standoff going much longer.

She glanced around the fields, desperately trying to formulate a plan. About a quarter mile away, a Hyperborean giant was sitting in the bog, peacefully picking mud from between his toes with a broken tree trunk.

"I've got an idea," Percy spoke up. "Hazel — all the gold in these nests. Do you think you can use it to cause a distraction?"

"I — I guess."

"Just give us enough time for a head start. When I say go, run for that giant."

Frank gaped at him. "You want us to run toward a giant?"

"Trust me," Percy said. "Ready? Go!"

Hazel thrust her hand upward. From a dozen nests across the marsh, golden objects shot into the air — jewelry, weapons, coins, gold nuggets, and most importantly, gryphon eggs. The monsters shrieked and flew after their eggs, frantic to save them.

Daria and her friends ran. Their feet splashed and crunched through the frozen marsh. She poured on speed, but she could hear the gryphons closing behind them, and now the monsters were really angry.

The giant hadn't noticed the commotion yet. He was inspecting his toes for mud, his face sleepy and peaceful, his white whiskers glistening with ice crystals. Around his neck was a necklace of found objects — garbage cans, car doors, moose antlers, camping equipment, even a toilet. Apparently he'd been cleaning up the wilderness.

Daria hated to disturb him, especially since it meant taking shelter under the giant's thighs, but they didn't have much choice.

"Under!" Percy told his friends. "Crawl under!"

They scrambled between the massive blue legs and flattened themselves in the mud, crawling as close as they could to his loincloth. Daria tried to breathe through her mouth, but it wasn't the most pleasant hiding spot.

"What's the plan?" Frank hissed. "Get flattened by a blue rump?"

"Lay low," Percy said. "Only move if you have to."

The gryphons arrived in a wave of angry beaks, talons, and wings, swarming around the giant, trying to get under his legs.

The giant rumbled in surprise. He shifted. Daria had to roll to avoid getting crushed by his large hairy rear. The Hyperborean grunted, a little more irritated. He swatted at the gryphons, but they squawked in outrage and began pecking at his legs and hands.

"Ruh?" the giant bellowed. "Ruh!"

He took a deep breath and blew out a wave of cold air. Even under the protection of the giant's legs, Daria could feel the temperature drop. She started shivering, gods, she hated the cold.

The gryphons' shrieking stopped abruptly, replaced by the thunk, thunk, thunk of heavy objects hitting the mud.

"Come on," Percy told his friends. "Carefully."

They squirmed out from under the giant. All around the marsh, trees were glazed with frost. A huge swath of the bog was covered in fresh snow. Frozen gryphons stuck out of the ground like feathery Popsicle sticks, their wings still spread, beaks open, eyes wide with surprise.

Percy and his friends scrambled away, trying to keep out of the giant's vision, but the big guy was too busy to notice them. He was trying to figure out how to string a frozen gryphon onto his necklace.

"Percy..." Hazel wiped the ice and mud from her face. "How did you know the giant could do that?"

"I almost got hit by Hyperborean breath once," he said. "We'd better move. The gryphons won't stay frozen forever."

* * *

milimochi: lol Percy thinking that Daria's the daughter anyone other than Gaea is my favorite thing.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!

~M


	18. seventeen

They walked overland for about an hour, keeping the train tracks in sight but staying in the cover of the trees as much as possible. Once they heard a helicopter flying in the direction of the train wreck. Twice they heard the screech of gryphons, but they sounded a long way off.

As near as Percy could figure, it was about midnight when the sun finally set. It got cold in the woods. The stars were so thick, Percy was tempted to stop and gawk at them. Then the northern lights cranked up. They reminded Percy of his mom's gas stovetop back home, when she had the flame on low- waves of ghostly blue flames rippling back and forth.

"That's amazing," Frank said.

"Bears!" Daria said, delighted. It was when she said things like that Percy remembered that his cousin was five-feet tall and sixteen years old. Sure enough, a couple of brown bears were lumbering in the meadow a few hundred feet away, their coats gleaming in the starlight.

"They won't bother us," Hazel promised. "Just give them a wide berth."

Percy and Frank didn't argue.

As they trudged on, Percy thought about all the crazy places he'd seen. None of them had left him speechless like Alaska. He could see why it was a land beyond the gods. Everything here was rough and untamed. There were no rules, no prophecies, no destinies — just the harsh wilderness and a bunch of animals and monsters. Mortals and demigods came here at their own risk.

Percy wondered if this was what Gaea wanted — for the whole world to be like this. He wondered if that would be such a bad thing.

Then he put the thought aside. Gaea wasn't a gentle goddess. Percy had heard what she planned to do. She wasn't like the Mother Earth you might read about in a children's fairytale. She was vengeful and violent. If she ever woke up fully, she'd destroy human civilization.

After another couple of hours, they stumbled across a tiny village between the railroad tracks and a two-lane road. The city limit sign said: MOOSE PASS. Standing next to the sign was an actual moose. For a second, Percy thought it might be some sort of statue for advertising. Then the animal bounded into the woods.

They passed a couple of houses, a post office, and some trailers. Everything was dark and closed up. On the other end of town was a store with a picnic table and an old rusted petrol pump in front.

The store had a hand-painted sign that read: MOOSE PASS GAS.

"That's just wrong," Frank said.

By silent agreement they collapsed around the picnic table.

Percy's feet felt like blocks of ice — very sore blocks of ice. Daria looked like she was on the verge of turning into a block of ice herself. Hazel put her head in her hands and passed out, snoring. Frank took out his last sodas and some granola bars from the train ride and shared them with Daria and Percy.

They ate in silence, watching the stars, until Frank said, "Did you mean what you said earlier?"

Percy looked across the table. "About what?"

In the starlight, Frank's face might have been alabaster, like an old Roman statue. "About. ..being proud that we're related."

Percy tapped his granola bar on the table. "Well, let's see. You single-handedly took out three basilisks while I was sipping green tea and wheat germ. You held off an army of Laistrygonians so that our plane could take off in Vancouver. You saved my life by shooting down that gryphon. And you gave up the last charge on your magic spear to help some defenseless mortals. You are, hands down, the nicest child of the war god I've ever met... maybe the only nice one. So what do you think?"

"What he said," Daria agreed. "Frank, you've earned your right to be a centurion. You're the leader of this quest and frankly," she smiled at herself. "Don't mind the pun, you've done a hell of a job. Anyone would be proud of you, truly."

Frank stared up at the northern lights, still cooking across the stars on low heat. "It's just... I don't feel in charge of this quest. I feel like you guys have had to carry me."

"Not true," Percy said.

"I'm supposed to have these powers I haven't figured out how to use," Frank said bitterly. "Now I don't have a spear, and I'm almost out of arrows. And. ..I'm scared."

"I'd be worried if you weren't scared," Daria said. "We're all scared."

"But the Feast of Fortuna is. . ." Frank thought about it.

"It's after midnight, isn't it? That means it's June twenty-fourth now. The feast starts tonight at sundown. We have to find our way to Hubbard Glacier, defeat a giant who is undefeatable in his home territory, and get back to Camp Jupiter before they're overrun — all in less than eighteen hours."

"And when we free Thanatos," Percy said, "he might claim your life. And Hazel's. Believe me, I've been thinking about it."

Frank gazed at Hazel, still snoring lightly. Her face was buried under a mass of curly brown hair.

"She's my best friend," Frank said. "I lost my mom, my grandmother...I can't lose her, too."

Percy thought about his old life — his mom in New York, Camp Half-Blood, Annabeth. He'd lost all of that for eight months. Even now, with the memories coming back... he'd never been this far away from home before. He'd been to the Underworld and back. He'd faced death dozens of times. But sitting at this picnic table, thousands of miles away, beyond the power of Olympus, he'd never been so alone — except for Daria, Hazel, and Frank.

"I'm not going to lose any of you," he promised. "I'm not going to let that happen. And, Frank, you are a leader. Hazel would say the same thing. We need you."

Frank lowered his head. He seemed lost in thought. Finally he leaned forward until his head bumped the picnic table. He started to snore in harmony with Hazel.

Percy sighed. "Another inspiring speech from Jackson," he said to Daria. She laughed at him and Percy wondered where she found the ability to be so carefree. He was reminded of when he first got to camp, when Daria had put on this mask of confidence, and wondered if that was what she was doing now. His cousin was truly an enigma. "Rest up, Frank. Big day ahead"

At dawn, the store opened up. The owner was a little surprised to find four teenagers crashed out on his picnic table, but when Percy explained that they had stumbled away from last night's train wreck, the guy felt sorry for them and treated them to breakfast. He called a friend of his, an Inuit native who had a cabin close to Seward. Soon they were rumbling along the road in a beat-up Ford pickup that had been new about the time Hazel was born.

Hazel, Daria, and Frank sat in the back. Percy rode up front with the leathery old man, who smelled like smoked salmon. He told Percy stories about Bear and Raven, the Inuit gods, and all Percy could think was that he hoped he didn't meet them. He had enough enemies already.

The truck broke down a few miles outside Seward. The driver didn't seem surprised, as though this happened to him several times a day. He said they could wait for him to fix the engine, but since Seward was only a few miles away, they decided to walk it.

By midmorning, they climbed over a rise in the road and saw a small bay ringed with mountains. The town was a thin crescent on the right-hand shore, with wharves extending into the water and a cruise ship in the harbor.

Percy shuddered. He'd had bad experiences with cruise ships.

"Seward," Hazel said. She didn't sound happy to see her old home.

They'd already lost a lot of time, and Percy didn't like how fast the sun was rising. The road curved around the hillside, but it looked like they could get to town faster going straight across the meadows.

Percy stepped off the road. "Come on."

The ground was squishy, but he didn't think much about it until Hazel shouted, "Percy, no!"

His next step went straight through the ground. He sank like a stone until the earth closed over his head — and the earth swallowed him.

"Your bow!" Hazel shouted.

Frank didn't ask questions. He dropped his pack and slipped the bow off his shoulder. Daria seemed shell-shocked but snapped back at the sound of Hazel's voice. She scouted the ground, watching where Hazel and Frank stepped so that they wouldn't have to.

Hazel's heart raced. She hadn't thought about this boggy soil — muskeg — since before she had died. Now, too late, she remembered the dire warnings the locals had given her. Marshy silt and decomposed plants made a surface that looked completely solid, but it was even worse than quicksand. It could be twenty feet deep or more, and impossible to escape.

She tried not to think what would happen if it were deeper than the length of the bow.

"Hold one end," she told Frank. "Don't let go."

She grabbed the other end, took a deep breath, and jumped into the bog. The earth closed over her head.

Instantly, she was frozen in a memory.

Not now. she wanted to scream. Ella said I was done with blackouts!

_Oh, but my dear_, said the voice of Gaea, this is not one of your blackouts. _This is a gift from me. _

Hazel was back in New Orleans. She and her mother sat in the park near their apartment, having a picnic breakfast. She remembered this day. She was seven years old. Her mother had just sold Hazel's first precious stone: a small diamond. Neither of them had yet realized Hazel's curse.

Queen Marie was in an excellent mood. She had bought orange juice for Hazel and champagne for herself, and beignets sprinkled with chocolate and powdered sugar. She'd even bought Hazel a new box of crayons and a pad of paper. They sat together, Queen Marie humming cheerfully while Hazel drew pictures.

It had been the happiest morning of Hazel's life.

"_You could stay here_." Her mother smiled, but her eyes were blank white. The voice was Gaea's.

"This is fake," Hazel said.

"_What is real_?" asked Gaea, speaking through her mother's face. "_Is your second life real, Hazel? You're supposed to be dead. Is it real that you're sinking into a bog, suffocating_?"

"Let me help my friend!" Hazel tried to force herself back to reality. She could imagine her hand clenched on the end of the bow, but even that was starting to feel fuzzy. Her grip was loosening. The smell of magnolias and roses was overpowering.

Her mother offered her a beignet.

No, Hazel thought. This isn't my mother. This is Gaea tricking me.

"_You want your old life back_," Gaea said. "_I can give you that. This moment can last for years. You can grow up in New Orleans, and your mother will adore you. You'll never have to deal with the burden of your curse. You can be with Sammy _— "

"It's an illusion!" Hazel said, choking on the sweet scent of flowers.

"_You are an illusion, Hazel Levesque. You were only brought back to life because the gods have a task for you. I may have used you, but Nico used you and lied about it. You should be glad I captured him._"

"Captured?" A feeling of panic rose in Hazel's chest. "What do you mean?"

Gaea smiled, sipping her champagne. "_The boy should have known better than to search for the Doors. But no matter — it's not really your concern. Once you release Thanatos, you'll be thrown back into the Underworld to rot forever. Frank and Percy won't stop that from happening. Would real friends ask you to give up your life? Tell me who is lying, and who tells you the truth._" Hazel noticed how she said nothing about Daria, that was suspicious.

Hazel started to cry. Bitterness welled up inside her. She'd lost her life once. She didn't want to die again.

"_That's right_," Gaea purred. "_You were destined to marry Sammy. Do you know what happened to him after you died in Alaska? He grew up and moved to Texas. He married and had a family. But he never forgot you. He always wondered why you disappeared. He's dead now — a heart attack in the nineteen-sixties. The life you could've had together always haunted him._"

"Stop it!" Hazel screamed. "You took that from me!"

"_And you can have it again_," Gaea said. "_I have you in my embrace, Hazel. You'll die anyway. If you give up, at least I can make it pleasant for you. Forget saving Percy Jackson. He belongs to me. I'll keep him safe in the earth until I'm ready to use him. You can have an entire life in your final moments — you can grow up, marry Sammy. All you have to do is let go_."

Hazel tightened her grip on the bow. Below her, something grabbed her ankles, but she didn't panic. She knew it was Percy, suffocating, desperately grasping for a chance at life.

Hazel glared at the goddess. "I'll never cooperate with you! LET — US — GO!"

Her mother's face dissolved. The New Orleans morning melted into darkness. Hazel was drowning in mud, one hand on the bow, Percy's hands around her ankles, deep in the darkness. Hazel wiggled the end of the bow frantically. Frank pulled her up with such force it nearly popped her arm out of the socket.

When she opened her eyes, she was lying in the grass, covered in muck. Percy sprawled at her feet, coughing and spitting mud.

Frank hovered over them, yelling, "Oh, gods! Oh, gods! Oh, gods!"

He yanked some extra clothes from his bag and started toweling off Hazel's face, but it didn't do much good. Daria silently dragged Percy farther from the muskeg as best as she could.

"You were down there so long!" Frank cried. "I didn't think — oh, gods, don't ever do something like that again!"

He wrapped Hazel in a bear hug.

"Can't — breathe," she choked out.

She could hear Daria have a soft conversation father away from the bog, "Don't ever do that again Percy Jackson." She mumbled.

"Aww," he coughed a couple times before he continued. "You were worried."

"Shut up."

"Sorry!" Frank went back to toweling and fussing over them. Finally he got them to the side of the road, where they sat and shivered and spit up mud clods.

Hazel couldn't feel her hands. She wasn't sure if she was cold or in shock, but she managed to explain about the muskeg, and the vision she'd seen while she was under. Not the part about Sammy — that was still too painful to say out loud — but she told them about Gaea's offer of a fake life, and the goddess' claim that she'd captured her brother Nico. Hazel didn't want to keep that to herself. She was afraid the despair would overwhelm her.

Percy rubbed his shoulders. His lips were blue. "You — you saved me, Hazel. We'll figure out what happened to Nico, I promise."

Daria pursed her lips, "Gaea won't get away with that." She said it with such a determination that Hazel was confused on how close her relationship with Nico actually was.

Hazel squinted at the sun, which was now high in the sky. The warmth felt good, but it didn't stop her trembling. "Does it seem like Gaea let us go too easily?"

Percy plucked a mud clod from his hair. "Maybe she still wants us as pawns. Maybe she was just saying things to mess with your mind."

"She knew what to say," Hazel agreed. "She knew how to get to me."

Frank put his jacket around her shoulders. "This is real life. You know that, right? We're not going to let you die again."

He sounded so passionate. Hazel didn't want to argue, but she didn't see how Frank could stop Death. She pressed her coat pocket, where Frank's half-burned firewood was still securely wrapped. She wondered what would've happened to him if she'd sunk in the mud forever. Maybe that would have saved him. Fire couldn't have gotten to the wood down there.

She would have made any sacrifice to keep Frank safe. Perhaps she hadn't always felt that strongly, but Frank had trusted her with his life. He believed in her. She couldn't bear the thought of any harm coming to him.

She glanced at the rising sun... Time was running out. She thought about Hylla, the Amazon Queen back in Seattle. Hylla would have dueled Otrera two nights in a row by now, assuming she had survived. She was counting on Hazel to release Death.

She managed to stand. The wind coming off Resurrection Bay was just as cold as she remembered. "We should get going. We're losing time."

Percy gazed down the road. His lips were returning to their normal color. "Any hotels or something where we could clean off? I mean.. .hotels that accept mud people?"

"I'm not sure," Hazel admitted.

She looked at the town below and couldn't believe how much it had grown since 1942. The main harbor had moved east as the town had expanded. Most of the buildings were new to her, but the grid of downtown streets seemed familiar. She thought she recognized some warehouses along the shore. "I might know a place we can freshen up."

* * *

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review/fav

-M


	19. eighteen

Daria was furious at her mother.

Gaea was plain and simply fucking with them. She had complete control over Daria's mind and Daria knew that, even when she was done with her training, she wouldn't relinquish it. The earth goddess had captured Nico and had left Hazel and Percy to drown... Daria expected an apology.

She had to figure out an endgame for this. Not for this quest specifically, but for the Prophecy of Eight. It was foretold that she would betray her friends, that she would play the main role in their demise. But was that really what Daria was doing every night?

Hazel led them along Third Avenue. They thought about stopping at the Seward Hotel, but Daria didn't think it would be a good idea to traipse into the lobby covered in mud, nor was she sure the hotel would give a room to four minors.

Instead, they turned toward the shoreline. A rickety old house stood on a barnacle-encrusted pier. The roof sagged. The walls were perforated with holes like buckshot. The door was boarded-up, and a hand-painted sign read: ROOMS STORAGE AVAILABLE.

"Come on," Hazel said.

"Uh, you sure it's safe?" Frank asked.

Not giving him a response, Hazel found an open window and climbed inside. The three of them followed. The room hadn't been used in a long time. Their feet kicked up dust that swirled in the buckshot beams of sunlight. Mouldering cardboard boxes were stacked along the walls. Their faded labels read: Greeting Cards, Assorted Seasonal.

"It's warmer in here, at least," Frank said. "Guess no running water? Maybe Daria and I can go shopping. We're not as muddy as you guys. We could find us some clothes."

Hazel didn't seem to hear him.

She climbed over a stack of boxes in the corner that used to be her sleeping area. An old sign was propped against the wall: GOLD PROSPECTING SUPPLIES.

Frank's fingers hovered over a photo. "Who...?" He saw that she was crying and clamped back his question. "Sorry, Hazel. This must be really hard. Do you want some time — "

"No," she croaked. "No, it's fine."

"Is that your mother?" Percy pointed to the photo of dark-haired woman. "She looks like you. She's beautiful."

Then Percy studied the picture of a curly-haired troublemaker. "Who is that?"

Daria didn't understand why he looked so spooked

"That's... that's Sammy. He was my — uh — friend from New Orleans." Hazel managed.

"I've seen him before," Percy said.

"You couldn't have," Hazel said. "That was in 1941 . He's... he's probably dead now."

Percy frowned. "I guess. Still..." He shook his head, like the thought was too uncomfortable.

Daria cleared her throat. "Look, we passed a store on the last block. We've got a little money left. Maybe we should go get you guys some food and clothes and — I don't know — a hundred boxes of wet wipes or something?"

"That would be great," she said. "You two are the best."

The floorboards creaked under Frank's feet. "Well... We're the only ones not completely covered in mud, anyway. Be back soon."

Daria couldn't help but notice that she had spent significantly more time with Frank than Hazel on this quest and yet she knew the least about him. She didn't think the son of Mars liked her very much. That, or he was afraid of her. Neither option made her feel better really.

"You know I meant what I said back at breakfast," she ventured. "There's something about you Frank, you were born to lead."

He glanced at her, "Yeah maybe."

Okay. She would try again. "My first quest-actually both Jason and I's first quest, went miserably. The second day out I got hypothermia and Jason broke his shoulder."

"It's just," Frank struggled to find the words. "Ever since I joined the legion, after Jason disappeared, you seemed to be this leader who didn't take any, sorry, crap from anyone. You always expected the best, you and Reyna. I keep feeling like I've disappointed you."

"Frank," she paused. "I really didn't know you cared that much about my opinion. I always thought of you as an equal, as one of my friends after this quest." She frowned, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "It's not you. Well, it is," he stumbled. "Everyone in the legion thinks you're super cool for standing up to Octavian and everything."

"I'm not that cool Frank." She said firmly. Which was an odd thing to say but given everything she'd messed up in her life, it was the truth. "And I'm not disappointed with you. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I stole Scipio without telling Reyna…"

They climbed in, triumphantly holding some shopping bags. "Success!"

Daria and Frank showed off his prizes. From a hunting store, he'd gotten a new quiver of arrows for himself (Daria made him promise to teach her how to shoot), some rations, and a coil of rope.

"For the next time we run across muskeg," he said.

From a local tourist shop, they had bought three sets of fresh clothes, some towels, some soap, some bottled water, and, yes, a huge box of wet wipes. It wasn't exactly a hot shower, but Hazel ducked behind a wall of greeting card boxes to clean up and change.

The Feast of Fortuna — all the luck that happened today, good or bad, was supposed to be an omen of the entire year to come. One way or another, their quest would end this evening. Daria couldn't stop thinking.

"So," she said. "Now we find a boat to Hubbard Glacier." She tried to sound confident, but it wasn't easy.

Frank patted his stomach. "If we're going to battle to the death, I want lunch first. We found the perfect place."

Daria led them to a shopping plaza near the wharf, where an old railway car had been converted to a diner. While Daria, Frank, and Percy ordered, Hazel wandered down to the docks and asked some questions. When she came back, she needed cheering up. Even the cheeseburger and fries didn't do the trick.

"We're in trouble," she said. "I tried to get a boat. But. ..I miscalculated."

"No boats?" Frank asked.

"Oh, I can get a boat," Hazel said. "But the glacier is farther than I thought. Even at top speed, we couldn't get there until tomorrow morning."

Percy turned pale. "Maybe I could make the boat go faster?"

"Even if you could," Hazel said, "from what the captains tell me, it's treacherous — icebergs, mazes of channels to navigate. You'd have to know where you were going."

"A plane?" Frank asked.

Hazel shook her head. "I asked the boat captains about that. They said we could try, but it's a tiny airfield. You have to charter a plane two, three weeks in advance."

They ate in silence after that. Daria's cheeseburger was excellent, but she couldn't concentrate on it. She'd eaten about three bites when a raven settled on the telephone pole above and began to croak at them.

Suddenly, the raven's cawing changed to a strangled yelp.

Frank got up so fast that he almost toppled the picnic table. Percy and Daria drew their swords.

Hazel followed their eyes. Perched on top of the pole where the raven had been, a fat ugly gryphon glared down at them. It burped, and raven feathers fluttered from its beak.

Hazel stood and unsheathed her spatha.

Frank nocked an arrow. He took aim, but the gryphon shrieked so loudly the sound echoed off the mountains. Frank flinched, and his shot went wide.

"I think that's a call for help," Percy warned. "We have to get out of here."

With no clear plan, they ran for the docks. The gryphon dove after them. Percy slashed at it with his sword, but the gryphon veered out of reach.

They took the steps to the nearest pier and raced to the end. The gryphon swooped after them, its front claws extended for the kill. Daria gathered a block of muddy dirt and washed it into the bay. The gryphon squawked and flapped its wings. It managed to scramble onto the pier, where it shook its black fur like a wet dog.

Frank appraised her. "Nice one, Dars." Percy grunted in surprise at the stolen nickname.

"Yeah," she said. "Didn't know if I could still do that in Alaska. But bad news — look over there." About a mile away, over the mountains, a black cloud was swirling — a whole flock of gryphons, dozens at least. There was no way they could fight that many, and no boat could take them away fast enough.

Frank nocked another arrow. "Not going down without a fight."

Percy raised Riptide. "I'm with you."

Then Daria heard a sound in the distance — like the whinnying of a horse. She must've been imagining it, but Hazel cried out desperately, "Arion! Over here!"

A tan blur came ripping down the street and onto the pier. The stallion materialized right behind the gryphon, brought down his front hooves, and smashed the monster to dust.

Hazel had never been so happy in her life. "Good horse! Really good horse!"

Frank backed up and almost fell off the pier. "How — ?"

"He followed me!" Hazel beamed. "Because he's the best — horse — EVER! Now, get on!"

"All four of us?" Percy said. "Can he handle it?"

Arion whinnied indignantly.

"All right, no need to be rude," Percy said. "Let's go."

They climbed on, Hazel in front, Frank and Percy balancing precariously behind her, and Daria last because "I've got the arm muscle, Perce.". Frank wrapped his arms around Hazel's waist and it brought some joy into Daria's heart to see that before they all died.

"Run, Arion!" Hazel cried. "To Hubbard Glacier!"

The horse shot across the water, his hooves turning the top of the sea to steam.

Riding Arion was like the calm before the storm. If you could call going five hundred miles an hour calming. He raced over the water at the speed of sound, heating the air around them so that Daria didn't even feel the cold. Making this journey on foot, she never would have felt so brave. On horseback, she couldn't wait to charge into battle.

Frank and Percy didn't look so happy. Their teeth were clenched and their eyeballs were bouncing around in their heads. Frank's cheeks jiggled from the g-force. Percy sat in back, hanging on tight, desperately trying not to push Daria off the horse's rear. Daria hoped that didn't happen. The way Arion was moving, they might not notice she was gone for fifty or sixty miles.

They raced through icy straits, past blue fjords and cliffs with waterfalls spilling into the sea. Arion jumped over a breaching humpback whale and kept galloping, startling a pack of seals off an iceberg.

It seemed like only minutes before they zipped into a narrow bay. The water turned the consistency of shaved ice in blue sticky syrup. Arion came to a halt on a frozen turquoise slab.

A half a mile away stood Hubbard Glacier. Daria, who'd never seen glaciers before, couldn't quite process what she was looking at. Purple snowcapped mountains marched off in either direction, with clouds floating around their middles like fluffy belts. In a massive valley between two of the largest peaks, a ragged wall of ice rose out of the sea, filling the entire gorge. The glacier was blue and white with streaks of black, so that it looked like a hedge of dirty snow left behind on a sidewalk after a snowplow had gone by, only four million times as large.

As soon as Arion stopped, Daria felt the temperature drop. All that ice was sending off waves of cold, turning the bay into the world's largest refrigerator. The eeriest thing was a sound like thunder that rolled across the water.

"What is that?" Daria gazed at the clouds above the glacier. "A storm?"

"No," Hazel said. "Ice cracking and shifting. Millions of tons of ice."

"You mean that thing is breaking up?" Daria asked.

As if on cue, a sheet of ice silently calved off the side of the glacier and crashed into the sea, spraying water and frozen shrapnel several stories high. A millisecond later the sound hit them — a BOOM almost as jarring as Arion hitting the sound barrier.

"We can't get close to that thing!" Frank said.

"We have to," Percy said. "The giant is at the top."

Arion nickered.

"Jeez, Hazel," Percy said, "tell your horse to watch his language."

Hazel tried not to laugh. "What did he say?"

"With the cussing removed? He said he can get us to the top."

"Without the cursing removed?"

Frank looked incredulous. "I thought the horse couldn't fly!"

This time Arion whinnied so angrily, even Daria could guess he was cursing.

"Dude," Percy told the horse, "I've gotten suspended for saying less than that. Hazel, he promises you'll see what he can do as soon as you give the word."

"Urn, hold on, then, you guys," Hazel said nervously. "Arion, giddyup!"

Arion shot toward the glacier like a runaway rocket, barreling straight across the slush like he wanted to play chicken with the mountain of ice. The air grew colder. The crackling of the ice grew louder. As Arion closed the distance, the glacier loomed so large, Daria got vertigo just trying to take it all in. The side was riddled with crevices and caves, spiked with jagged ridges like ax blades. Pieces were constantly crumbling off — some no larger than snowballs, some the size of houses.

When they were about fifty yards from the base, a thunderclap rattled Daria's bones, and a curtain of ice that would have covered Camp Jupiter calved away and fell toward them.

"Look out!" Frank shouted, which seemed a little unnecessary to Daria.

Arion was way ahead of him. In a burst of speed, he zigzagged through the debris, leaping over chunks of ice and clambering up the face of the glacier.

Percy and Frank, but mostly Percy, both cussed like horses and held on desperately while Hazel wrapped her arms around Arion's neck. Somehow, they managed not to fall off as Arion scaled the cliffs, jumping from foothold to foothold with impossible speed and agility. It was like falling down a mountain in reverse.

Then it was over. Arion stood proudly at the top of a ridge of ice that loomed over the void. The sea was now three hundred feet below them.

Arion whinnied a challenge that echoed off the mountains. Percy didn't translate, but Daria was pretty sure Arion was calling out to any other horses that might be in the bay: Beat that, ya punks!

Then he turned and ran inland across the top of the glacier, leaping a chasm fifty feet across.

"There!" Percy pointed.

The horse stopped. Ahead of them stood a frozen Roman camp like a giant-sized ghastly replica of Camp Jupiter. The trenches bristled with ice spikes. The snow-brick ramparts glared blinding white. Hanging from the guard towers, banners of frozen blue cloth shimmered in the arctic sun.

There was no sign of life. The gates stood wide open. No sentries walked the walls. Still, Daria had an uneasy feeling in her gut. The scariest part was that Daria felt almost at home. It was as if the earth were trying to wake up and consume everything — as if the mountains on either side were begging her to free them.

Arion trotted skittishly.

"Frank," Percy said, "how about we go on foot from here?"

Frank sighed with relief. "Thought you'd never ask."

The three dismounted and took some tentative steps. The ice seemed stable, covered with a fine carpet of snow so that it wasn't too slippery.

Hazel urged Arion forward. Percy, Daria, and Frank walked on either side, swords and bow ready. They approached the gates without being challenged. Daria was trained to spot pits, snares, trip lines, and all sorts of other traps Roman legions had faced for eons in enemy territory, but she saw nothing — just the yawning icy gates and the frozen banners crackling in the wind.

She could see straight down the Via Praetoria. At the crossroads, in front of the snow-brick principia, a tall, dark-robed figure stood, bound in icy chains.

"Thanatos," Hazel murmured. She almost fell off Arion, but Frank caught her and propped her up.

"We've got you," he promised. "Nobody's taking you away."

Daria gripped her swords. First and foremost, she was loyal to the legion, she would put herself in harm's way a thousand times over to protect her family. She knew Gaea was evil, she was so willing to play them like chess pieces. But was her destiny to either kill her own mother or kill her friends? Were those really her only options?

_Stay by my side_, she had whispered so long ago. _And your friends will be spared._

Was it selfish of Daria to want to be a part of the prophecy? To see Jason again? She shook her head. Thinking about that now would get her killed, she had to focus."No defenders? No giant? This has to be a trap."

"Obviously," Frank said. "But I don't think we have a choice."

Before anyone could say anything else, Hazel urged Arion through the gates. The layout was so familiar — cohort barracks, baths, armory. It was an exact replica of Camp Jupiter, except three times as big. Daria felt tiny and insignificant, as if they were moving through a model city constructed by the gods.

They stopped ten feet from the robed figure. Arion cantered back and forth, sensing their disquiet.

"Hello?" Hazel forced out the word. "Mr. Death?"

The hooded figure raised his head.

Instantly, the whole camp stirred to life. Figures in Roman armor emerged from the barracks, the principia, the armory, and the canteen, but they weren't human. Their bodies weren't much more than wisps of black vapor, but they managed to hold together sets of scale armor, greaves, and helmets. Frost-covered swords were strapped to their waists. Pita and dented shields floated in their smoky hands. The plumes on the centurions' helmets were frozen and ragged.

Most of the shades were on foot, but two soldiers burst out of the stables in a golden chariot pulled by ghostly black steeds.

When Arion saw the horses, he stamped the ground in outrage.

Frank gripped his bow. "Yep, here's the trap."

* * *

A long one, but I wanted to add some Frank/Daria bonding time.

I'm curious, how would you describe Daria in a sentence? I think it's interesting how everyone perceives her vs. how she views herself.

As always, thanks for reading!

-M


	20. nineteen

The ghosts formed ranks and encircled the crossroads. There were about a hundred in all — not an entire legion, but more than a cohort. Some carried the tattered lightning bolt banners of the Twelfth Legion, Fifth Cohort — Michael Varus's doomed expedition from the 1 980s. Others carried standards and insignia Daria didn't recognize, as if they'd died at different times, on different quests — maybe not even from Camp Jupiter.

Most were armed with Imperial gold weapons — more Imperial gold than the entire Twelfth Legion possessed. Daria could feel the combined power of all that metal humming around her, even scarier than the crackling of the glacier. She wondered if she could use her power to control the weapons, maybe disarm the ghosts, but she was afraid to try. Imperial gold wasn't just a precious metal. It was deadly to demigods and monsters.

Trying to control that much at once would be like trying to control plutonium in a reactor. If she failed, she might wipe Hubbard Glacier off the map and kill her friends.

"Thanatos!" Hazel turned to the robed figure. "We're here to rescue you. If you control these shades, tell them — "

Her voice faltered. The god's hood fell away and his robes dropped off as he spread his wings, leaving him in only a sleeveless black tunic belted at the waist. Daria could see why. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

His skin was the color of teakwood, dark and glistening like the table in the principia. His eyes were as honey-gold as Hazel's. He was lean and muscular, with a regal face and black hair flowing down his shoulders. His wings glimmered in shades of blue, black, and purple.

Daria reminded herself to breathe.

Beautiful was the right word for Thanatos — not handsome, or hot, or anything like that. He was beautiful the way an angel is beautiful — timeless, perfect, remote.

"Oh," Hazel said in a small voice.

The god's wrists were shackled in icy manacles, with chains that ran straight into the glacier floor. His feet were bare, shackled around the ankles and also chained.

"It's Cupid," Frank said.

"A really hot Cupid," Percy agreed.

"You compliment me," Thanatos said. His voice was as gorgeous as he was — deep and melodious. "I am frequently mistaken for the god of love. Death has more in common with Love than you might imagine. But I am Death. I assure you."

"We're — we're here to save you," Hazel managed. "Where's Alcyoneus?"

"Save me...?" Thanatos narrowed his eyes. "Do you understand what you are saying, Hazel Levesque? Do you understand what that will mean?"

Percy stepped forward. "We're wasting time."

He swung his sword at the god's chains. Celestial bronze rang against the ice, but Riptide stuck to the chain like glue. Frost began creeping up the blade. Percy pulled frantically. Daria ran to help. Together, they just managed to yank Riptide free before the frost reached their hands.

"That won't work," Thanatos said simply. "As for the giant, he is close. These shades are not mine. They are his."

Thanatos's eyes scanned the ghost soldiers. They shifted uncomfortably, as if an arctic wind were rattling through their ranks.

"So how do we get you out?" Daria demanded.

Thanatos turned his attention to her. "How interesting that you would want me released. How interesting indeed Daria Jackson."

"Don't." She was aware of her friends' watchful eyes. "Where is he?"

"And you, Daughter of Pluto. You of all people should not want me released."

"Listen, Death." Hazel drew her cavalry sword, and Arion reared in defiance. "I didn't come back from the Underworld and travel thousands of miles to be told that I'm stupid for setting you free. If I die, I die. I'll fight this whole army if I have to. Just tell us how to break your chains."

Thanatos studied them for a heartbeat. "Interesting. You do understand that these shades were once demigods like you. They fought for Rome. They died without completing their heroic quests. Like you, they were sent to Asphodel. Now Gaea has promised them a second life if they fight for her today. Of course, if you release me and defeat them, they will have to return to the Underworld where they belong. For treason against the gods, they will face eternal punishment. They are not so different from you, Hazel Levesque. Are you sure you want to release me and damn these souls forever?"

Frank clenched his fists. "That's not fair! Do you want to be freed or not?"

"Fair..." Death mused. "You'd be amazed how often I hear that word, Frank Zhang, and how meaningless it is. Is it fair that your life will burn so short and bright? Was it fair when I guided your mother to the Underworld?"

Frank staggered like he'd been punched.

"No," Death said sadly. "Not fair. And yet it was her time. There is no fairness in Death. If you free me, I will do my duty. But of course these shades will try to stop you."

"So if we let you go," Percy summed up, "we get mobbed by a bunch of black vapor dudes with gold swords. Fine. How do we break those chains?"

Thanatos smiled. "Only the fire of life can melt the chains of death."

"Without the riddles, please?" Daria asked.

Frank drew a shaky breath. "It isn't a riddle."

"Frank, no," Hazel said weakly. "There's got to be another way."

Laughter boomed across the glacier. A rumbling voice said: "My friends. I've waited so long!"

Standing at the gates of the camp was Alcyoneus. He was even larger than the giant Polybotes they'd seen in California. He had metallic golden skin, armor made from platinum links, and an iron staff the size of a totem pole. His rust-red dragon legs pounded against the ice as he entered the camp. Precious stones glinted in his red braided hair.

The giant approached, grinning at Hazel with his solid silver teeth.

"Ah, Hazel Levesque," he said, "you cost me dearly! If not for you, I would have risen decades ago, and this world would already be Gaea's. But no matter!"

He spread his hands, showing off the ranks of ghostly soldiers. "Welcome, Percy and Daria Jackson! Welcome, Frank Zhang! I am Alcyoneus, the bane of Pluto, the new master of Death. And this is your new legion."

No fairness in Death. Those words kept ringing in Frank's head.

The golden giant didn't scare him. The army of shades didn't scare him. But the thought of freeing Thanatos made Frank want to curl into the fetal position. This god had taken his mother.

Frank understood what he had to do to break those chains. Mars had warned him. He'd explained why he loved Emily Zhang so much: She always put her duty first, ahead of everything. Even her life.

Now it was Frank's turn.

His mother's sacrifice medal felt warm in his pocket. He finally understood his mother's choice, saving her comrades at the cost of her own life. He got what Mars had been trying to tell him — Duty. Sacrifice. They mean something.

In Frank's chest, a hard knot of anger and resentment — a lump of grief he'd been carrying since the funeral — finally began to dissolve. He understood why his mother never came home. Some things were worth dying for.

"Hazel." He tried to keep his voice steady. "That package you're keeping for me? I need it."

Hazel glanced at him in dismay. Sitting on Arion, she looked like a queen, powerful and beautiful, her brown hair swept over her shoulders and a wreath of icy mist around her head. "Frank, no. There has to be another way."

"Please. I — I know what I'm doing."

Thanatos smiled and lifted his manacled wrists. "You're right, Frank Zhang. Sacrifices must be made."

Great. If Death approved of his plan, Frank was pretty sure he wasn't going to like the results.

The giant Alcyoneus stepped forward, his reptilian feet shaking the ground. "What package do you speak of, Frank Zhang? Have you brought me a present?"

"Nothing for you, Golden Boy," Frank said. "Except a whole lot of pain."

The giant roared with laughter. "Spoken like a child of Mars! Too bad I have to kill you. And this one. ..my, my, I've been waiting to meet the famous Percy Jackson."

Daria scowled at him.

The giant grinned. His silver teeth made his mouth look like a car grille.

"I've followed your progress, son of Neptune," said Alcyoneus. "Your fight with Kronos? Well done. Gaea hates you above all others... except perhaps for that upstart Jason Grace. I'm sorry I can't kill you right away, but my brother Polybotes wishes to keep you as a pet. He thinks it will be amusing when he destroys Neptune to have the god's favorite son on a leash. After that, of course, Gaea has plans for you."

"Yeah, flattering." Percy raised Riptide. "But actually I'm the son of Poseidon. I'm from Camp Half-Blood."

The ghosts stirred. Some drew swords and lifted shields. Alcyoneus raised his hand, gesturing for them to wait.

"Greek, Roman, it doesn't matter," the giant said easily. "We will crush both camps underfoot. You see, the Titans didn't think big enough. They planned to destroy the gods in their new home of America. We giants know better! To kill a weed, you must pull up its roots. Even now, while my forces destroy your little Roman camp, my brother Porphyrionis preparing for the real battle in the ancient lands! We will destroy the gods at their source."

The ghosts pounded their swords against their shields. The sound echoed across the mountains.

"The source?" Frank asked. "You mean Greece?"

Alcyoneus chuckled. "No need to worry about that, son of Mars. You won't live long enough to see our ultimate victory. I will replace Pluto as lord of the Underworld. I already have Death in my custody. With Hazel Levesque in my service, I will have all the riches under the earth as well!"

Hazel gripped her spatha. "I don't do service."

"Oh, but you gave me life!" Alcyoneus said. "True, we hoped to awaken Gaea during World War II. That would've been glorious. But really, the world is in almost as bad a shape now. Soon, your civilization will be wiped out. The Doors of Death will stand open. Those who serve us will never perish. Alive or dead, you will join my army."

Daria shook her head. "Yeah, not if I kill you first."

Alcyoneus bared his teeth at her, "One day, Daria Jackson, you will regret this choice, among many others.. And I will be there waiting." She glared at with such force that it was clear they both knew what he was talking about. The shades began to tremble lightly. Percy may be the son of Poseidon, but this was Daria Jackson.

"Wait." Hazel spurred her horse toward the giant. "I raised this monster from the earth. I'm the daughter of Pluto. It's my place to kill him."

"Ah, little Hazel." Alcyoneus planted his staff on the ice. His hair glittered with millions of dollars' worth of gems. "Are you sure you will not join us of your own free will? You could be quite ... precious to us. Why die again?" Hazel's eyes flashed with anger. She looked down at Frank and pulled the wrapped-up piece of firewood from her coat.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said.

She pursed her lips. "You're my best friend, too, Frank. I should have told you that." She tossed him the stick. "Do what you have to. And Percy, Daria... can you protect him?"

They gazed at the ranks of ghostly Romans. "Against a small army? Sure, no problem." Percy said.

"Then I've got Golden Boy," Hazel said.

She charged the giant.

Frank unwrapped the firewood and knelt at the feet of Thanatos.

He was aware of Daria standing over him, swinging her sword and yelling in defiance as the ghosts closed in, Percy farther to her right. He heard the giant bellow and Arion whinny angrily, but he didn't dare look.

His hands trembling, he held his piece of tinder next to the chains on Death's right leg. He thought about flames, and instantly the wood blazed.

Horrible warmth spread through Frank's body. The icy metal began to melt, the flame so bright it was more blinding than the ice.

"Good," Thanatos said. "Very good, Frank Zhang."

Frank had heard about people's lives flashing before their eyes, but now he experienced it literally. He saw his mother the day she left for Afghanistan. She smiled and hugged him. He tried to breath in her jasmine scent so he'd never forget it.

I will always be proud of you, Frank, she said. Someday, you'll travel even farther than I. You'll bring our family full circle. Years from now our descendants will be telling stories about the hero Frank Zhang, their great-, great-, great — She poked him in the belly for old times' sake. It would be the last time Frank smiled for months.

He saw himself at the picnic bench in Moose Pass, watching the stars and the northern lights as Hazel snored softly beside him, Daria saying, _Frank, you are a leader. We need you. _

He saw Percy disappearing into the muskeg, then Hazel diving after him. Frank remembered how alone he had felt holding on to the bow, how utterly powerless. He had pleaded with the Olympian gods — even Mars — to help his friends, but he knew they were beyond the gods' reach.

With a clank, the first chain broke. Quickly, Frank stabbed the firewood at the chain on Death's other leg.

He risked a glance over his shoulder.

Percy was fighting like a whirlwind. In fact... he was a whirlwind. A miniature hurricane of water and ice vapor churned around him as he waded through the enemy, knocking Roman ghosts away, deflecting arrows and spears. Since when did he have that power?

Daria was right beside him now. Bending heavy metal to her will. Sharpened daggers twisted in midair to attack their owners, Frank found it hard to watch. And apparently so did the ghosts, as they covered their eyes (?) in order to see past the gleaming gold. The Jacksons seemed to be taking down hundreds of ghosts by the minute.

They moved through the enemy lines, and even though they seemed to be leaving Frank undefended, the enemy was completely focused on them. Frank wasn't sure why — then he saw the goal. One of the black vapory ghosts was wearing the lion's-skin cape of a standard bearer and holding a pole with a golden eagle, icicles frozen to its wings. The legion's standard.

Frank watched as Percy plowed through a line of legionnaires, scattering their shields with his personal cyclone. He knocked down the standard bearer and grabbed the eagle.

"You want it back?" Daria shouted at the ghosts. "Come and get it!"

They drew the ghosts away, and Frank couldn't help being awed by their bold strategy. As much as those shades wanted to keep Thanatos chained, they were Roman spirits. Their minds were fuzzy at best, like the ghosts Frank had seen in Asphodel, but they remembered one thing clearly: they were supposed to protect their eagle.

Still, Percy and Daria couldn't fight off that many enemies forever. Maintaining a storm like that had to be difficult. Despite the cold, Percy's face was already beaded with sweat. He saw Daria grimace for a second as she controlled more metal, like she was in pain.

Frank looked for Hazel. He couldn't see her or the giant.

"Watch your fire, boy," Death warned. "You don't have any to waste."

Frank cursed. He'd gotten so distracted, he hadn't noticed the second chain had melted.

He moved his fire to the shackles on the god's right hand. The piece of tinder was almost half gone now. Frank started to shiver. More images flashed through his mind. He saw Mars sitting at his grandmother's bedside, looking at Frank with those nuclear explosion eyes: You're Juno's secret weapon. Flave you figured out your gift yet?

He heard his mother say: You can be anything.

Then he saw Grandmother's stern face, her skin as thin as rice paper, her white hair spread across her pillow. Yes, Fai Zhang. Your mother was not simply boosting your self-esteem. She was telling you the literal truth.

He thought of the grizzly bear his mother had intercepted at the edge of the woods. He thought of the large black bird circling over the flames of their family mansion.

The third chain snapped. Frank thrust the tinder at the last shackle. His body was racked with pain. Yellow splotches danced in his eyes.

He saw Daria at the end of the Via Principalis, holding off the army of ghosts. They'd overturned the chariot and destroyed several buildings, but every time Percy threw off a wave of attackers in his hurricane, the ghosts simply got up and charged again. Every time Daria slashed one of them down with his sword, the ghost re-formed immediately. They were back to back, as far as they could go. Behind was the side gate of the camp, and about twenty feet beyond that, the edge of the glacier.

As for Hazel, she and Alcyoneus had managed to destroy most of the barracks in their battle. Now they were fighting in the wreckage at the main gate. Arion was playing a dangerous game of tag, charging around the giant while Alyconeus swiped at them with his staff, knocking over walls and cleaving massive chasms in the ice. Only Arion's speed kept them alive.

Finally, Death's last chain snapped. With a desperate yelp, Frank jabbed his firewood into a pile of snow and extinguished the flame. His pain faded. He was still alive. But when he took out the piece of tinder, it was no more than a stub, smaller than a candy bar.

Thanatos raised his arms.

"Free," he said with satisfaction.

"Great." Frank blinked the spots from his eyes. "Then do something!"

Thanatos gave him a calm smile. "Do something? Of course. I will watch. Those who die in this battle will stay dead."

"Thanks," Frank muttered, slipping his firewood into his coat. "Very helpful."

"You're most welcome," Thanatos said agreeably.

"Guys!" Frank yelled. "They can die now!"

Percy nodded understanding, but he looked worn out. His hurricane was slowing down. His strikes were getting slower. Daria looked no better and sweat had finally gathered on her forehead. The entire ghostly army had her surrounded, gradually forcing them toward the edge of the glacier.

Frank drew his bow to help. Then he dropped it. Normal arrows from a hunting store in Seward wouldn't do any good. Frank would have to use his gift.

He thought he understood his powers at last. Something about watching the firewood burn, smelling the acrid smoke of his own life, had made him feel strangely confident.

Is it fair your life burns so short and bright? Death had asked.

"No such thing as fair," Frank told himself. "If I'm going to burn, it might as well be bright."

He took one step toward Percy. Then, from across the camp, Hazel yelled in pain. Arion screamed as the giant got a lucky shot. His staff sent horse and rider tumbling over the ice, crashing into the ramparts.

"Hazel!" Frank glanced back at Percy, wishing he had his spear. If he could just summon Gray...but he couldn't be in two places at once.

"Go help her!" Daria yelled, somehow holding the golden eagle that Percy had only moments earlier. "We've got these guys!"

They didn't have them. Frank knew that. The Jacksons were about to be overwhelmed, but Frank ran to Hazel's aid.

She was half-buried in a collapsed pile of snow-bricks. Arion stood over her, trying to protect her, rearing and swatting at the giant with his front hooves.

The giant laughed. "Hello, little pony. You want to play?"

Alcyoneus raised his icy staff.

Frank was too far away to help... but he imagined himself rushing forward, his feet leaving the ground.

Be anything.

He remembered the bald eagles they'd seen on the train ride. His body became smaller and lighter. His arms stretched into wings, and his sight became a thousand times sharper. He soared upward, then dove at the giant with his talons extended, his razor-sharp claws raking across the giant's eyes.

Alcyoneus bellowed in pain. He staggered backward as Frank landed in front of Hazel and returned to his normal form.

"Frank..." She stared at him in amazement, a cap of snow dripping off her head. "What just... how did — ?"

"Fool!" Alcyoneus shouted. His face was slashed, black oil dripping into his eyes instead of blood, but the wounds were already closing. "I am immortal in my homeland, Frank Zhang! And thanks to your friend Hazel, my new homeland is Alaska. You cannot kill me here!"

"We'll see," Frank said. Power coursed through his arms and legs. "Hazel, get back on your horse."

The giant charged, and Frank charged to meet him. He remembered the bear he'd met face to face when he was a child. As he ran, his body became heavier, thicker, rippling with muscles. He crashed into the giant as a full-grown grizzly, a thousand pounds of pure force. He was still small compared to Alcyoneus, but he slammed into the giant with such momentum, Alcyoneus toppled into an icy watchtower that collapsed on top of him.

Frank sprang at the giant's head. A swipe of his claw was like a heavyweight fighter swinging a chain saw. Frank bashed the giant's face back and forth until his metallic features began to dent.

"Urgg," the giant mumbled in a stupor.

Frank changed to his regular form. His backpack was still with him. He grabbed the rope he'd bought in Seward, quickly made a noose, and fastened it around the giant's scaly dragon foot.

"Hazel, here!" He tossed her the other end of the rope. "I've got an idea, but we'll have to — "

"Kill — uh — you — uh..." Alcyoneus muttered.

Frank ran to the giant's head, picked up the nearest heavy object he could find — a legion shield — and slammed it into the giant's nose.

The giant said, "Urgg."

Frank looked back at Hazel. "How far can Arion pull this guy?"

Hazel just stared at him. "You — you were a bird. Then a bear. And — "

"I'll explain later," Frank said. "We need to drag this guy inland, as fast and far as we can."

"But Percy and Daria!" Hazel said.

Frank cursed. How could he have forgotten?

Through the ruins of the camp, he saw Percy with his back to the edge of the cliff. Daria by his side, both exhausted. Percy's hurricane was gone. Daria only held one of her two swords and the golden eagle in the other hand. The entire army of shades edged forward, their weapons bristling.

"Percy!" Frank yelled.

Percy glanced over. He saw the fallen giant and seemed to understand what was happening. He yelled something that was lost in the wind, probably: Go! Then he looked at Daria, who shrugged and nodded back, like he had just asked her something unimportant.

Then Percy slammed Riptide into the ice at his feet. The entire glacier shuddered. Ghosts fell to their knees. Behind them, a wave surged up from the bay — a wall of gray water even taller than the glacier. Water shot from the chasms and crevices in the ice. As the wave hit, the back half of the camp crumbled. The entire edge of the glacier peeled away, cascading into the void — carrying buildings, ghosts, and the infamous Jacksons over the edge.

* * *

Almost to the end of SoN! Of course, don't forget to fav/review!

: Your review made my week! Thank you! As for Jason and Daria's relationship in The Mark of Athena, well, it's a bit frustrating for sure. But that's all I'm going to say on that!

Another question someone had was about Daria's ethnicity. You're welcome to picture her any way you want, but I see her as racially ambiguous, along with Percy. However, she and Jason grew up in an Indian household-to add some spice to our favorite white boy.

If there are more questions like these feel free to comment them below! I'll answer one per chapter in the order they arrive :)

As always, thank you so much for reading!

-M


	21. twenty

Frank was so stunned that Hazel had to yell his name a dozen times before he realized Alcyoneus was getting up again.

He slammed his shield into the giant's nose until Alcyoneus began to snore. Meanwhile the glacier kept crumbling, the edge getting closer and closer.

Thanatos glided toward them on his black wings, his expression serene.

"Ah, yes," he said with satisfaction. "There go some souls. Drowning, drowning. You'd best hurry, my friends, or you'll drown, too."

"But Daria..." Frank could barely speak his friend's name. "Percy. Are they — ?"

"Too soon to tell. As for this one. . ." Thanatos looked down at Alcyoneus with distaste. "You'll never kill him here. You know what to do?"

Frank nodded numbly. "I think so."

"Then our business is complete."

Frank and Hazel exchanged nervous looks.

"Urn..." Hazel faltered. "You mean you won't. ..you're not going to — ''

"Claim your life?" Thanatos asked. "Well, let's see..."

He pulled a pure-black iPad from thin air. Death tapped the screen a few times, and all Frank could think was: Please don't let there be an app for reaping souls.

"I don't see you on the list," Thanatos said. "Pluto gives me specific orders for escaped souls, you see. For some reason, he has not issued a warrant for yours. Perhaps he feels your life is not finished, or it could be an oversight. If you'd like me to call and ask — "

"No!" Hazel yelped. "That's okay."

"Are you sure?" Death asked helpfully. "I have video conferencing enabled. I have his Skype address here somewhere..."

"Really, no." Hazel looked as if several thousand pounds of worry had just been lifted from her shoulders. "Thank you."

"Urgg," Alcyoneus mumbled.

Frank hit him over the head again.

Death looked up from his iPad. "As for you, Frank Zhang, it isn't your time, either. You've got a little fuel left to burn. But don't think I'm doing either of you a favor. We will meet again under less pleasant circumstances."

The cliff was still crumbling, the edge only twenty feet away now. Arion whinnied impatiently. Frank knew they had to leave, but there was one more question he had to ask.

"What about the Doors of Death?" he said. "Where are they? How do we close them?"

"Ah, yes." A look of irritation flickered across Thanatos's face. "The Doors of Me. Closing them would be good, but I fear it is beyond my power. How you would do it, I haven't the faintest idea. I can't tell you exactly where they are. The location isn't. . .well, it's not entirely a physical place. They

must be located through questing. I can tell you to start your search in Rome. The original Rome. You will need a special guide. Only one sort of demigod can read the signs that will ultimately lead you to the Doors of Me."

Cracks appeared in the ice under their feet. Hazel patted Arion's neck to keep him from bolting.

"What about my brother?" she asked. "Is Nico alive?"

Thanatos gave her a strange look — possibly pity, though that didn't seem like an emotion Death would understand. "You will find the answer in Rome. And now I must fly south to your Camp Jupiter. I have a feeling there will be many souls to reap, very soon. Farewell, demigods, until we meet again."

Thanatos dissipated into black smoke.

The cracks widened in the ice under Frank's feet.

"Hurry!" he told Hazel. "We've got to take Alcyoneus about ten miles due north!"

He climbed onto the giant's chest and Arion took off, racing across the ice, dragging Alcyoneus like the world's ugliest sled.

It was a short trip.

Arion rode the glacier like a highway, zipping across the ice, leaping crevices, and skidding down slopes that would've made a snowboarder's eyes light up.

Frank didn't have to knock out Alcyoneus too many times, because the giant's head kept bouncing and hitting the ice. As they raced along, the half-conscious Golden Boy mumbled a tune that sounded like "Jingle Bells."

Frank felt pretty stunned himself. He'd just turned into an eagle and a bear. He could still feel fluid energy rippling through his body, like he was halfway between a solid and liquid state.

Not only that: Hazel and he had released Death, and both of them had survived. And Percy and Daria. ..Frank swallowed down his fear. They had gone over the side of the glacier to save them.

The son of Neptune shall drown.

No. Frank refused to believe Percy was dead. It couldn't be possible for Daria to live and Percy to die, could it? They hadn't come all this way just to lose their friends. Frank would find them — but first they had to deal with Alcyoneus.

He visualized the map he had been studying on the train from Anchorage. He knew roughly where they were going, but there were no signs or markers on top of the glacier. He'd just have to take his best guess.

Finally Arion zoomed between two mountains into a valley of ice and rocks, like a massive bowl of frozen milk with bits of Cocoa Puffs. The giant's golden skin paled as if it were turning to brass. Frank felt a subtle vibration in his own body, like a tuning fork pressed against his sternum. He knew he'd crossed into friendly territory — home territory.

"Here!" Frank shouted.

Arion veered to one side. Hazel cut the rope, and Alcyoneus went skidding past. Frank leaped off just before the giant slammed into a boulder. Immediately Alcyoneus jumped to his feet. "What? Where? Who?"

His nose was bent in an odd direction. His wounds had healed, though his golden skin had lost some of its luster. He looked around for his iron staff, which was still back at Hubbard Glacier. Then he gave up and pounded the nearest boulder to pieces with his fist.

"You dare take me for a sleigh ride?" He tensed and sniffed the air. "That smell... like snuffed-out souls. Thanatos is free, eh? Bah! It doesn't matter. Gaea still controls the Doors of Death. Now, why have you brought me here, son of Mars?"

"To kill you," Frank said. "Next question?"

The giant's eyes narrowed. "I've never known a child of Mars who can change his form, but that doesn't mean you can defeat me. Do you think your stupid soldier of a father gave you the strength to face me in one-on-one combat?"

Hazel drew her sword. "How about two on one?"

The giant growled and charged at Hazel, but Arion nimbly darted out of the way. Hazel slashed her sword across the back of the giant's calf. Black oil spouted from the wound.

Alcyoneus stumbled. "You can't kill me, Thanatos or no!"

Hazel made a grabbing gesture with her free hand. An invisible force yanked the giant's jewel-encrusted hair backward. Hazel rushed in, slashed his other leg, and raced away before he could regain his balance.

"Stop that!" Alcyoneus shouted. "This is Alaska. I am immortal in my homeland!"

"Actually," Frank said, "I have some bad news about that. See, I got more from my dad than strength."

The giant snarled. "What are you talking about, war brat?"

"Tactics," Frank said. "That's my gift from Mars. A battle can be won before it's ever fought by choosing the right ground." He pointed over his shoulder. "We crossed the border a few hundred yards back. You're not in Alaska anymore. Can't you feel it, Al? You want to get to Alaska, you have to go through me."

Slowly, understanding dawned in the giant's eyes. He looked down incredulously at his wounded legs. Oil still poured from his calves, turning the ice black.

"Impossible!" the giant bellowed. "I'll — I'll — Gah!"

He charged at Frank, determined to reach the international boundary. For a split second, Frank doubted his plan. If he couldn't use his gift again, if he froze, he was dead. Then he remembered his grandmother's instructions:

It helps if you know the creature well. Check.

It also helps if you are in a life-and-death situation , such as combat. Double check.

The giant kept coming. Twenty yards. Ten yards.

"Frank?" Hazel called nervously.

Frank stood his ground. "I got this."

Just before Alcyoneus smashed into him, Frank changed. He'd always felt too big and clumsy. Now he used that feeling. His body swelled to massive size. His skin thickened. His arms changed to stout front legs. His mouth grew tusks and his nose elongated. He became the animal he knew best — the one he'd cared for, fed, bathed, and even given indigestion to at Camp Jupiter.

Alcyoneus slammed into a full-grown ten-ton elephant.

The giant staggered sideways. He screamed in frustration and slammed into Frank again, but Alcyoneus was completely out of his weight division. Frank head-butted him so hard Alcyoneus flew backward and landed spread-eagled on the ice.

"You — can't — kill me," Alcyoneus growled. "You can't — "

Frank turned back to his normal form. He walked up to the giant, whose oily wounds were steaming. The gems fell out of his hair and sizzled in the snow. His golden skin began to corrode, breaking into chunks.

Hazel dismounted and stood next to Frank, her sword ready. "May I?"

Frank nodded. He looked into the giant's seething eyes. "Here's a tip, Alcyoneus. Next time you choose the biggest state for your home, don't set up base in the part that's only ten miles wide. Welcome to Canada, idiot."

Hazel's sword came down on the giant's neck. Alcyoneus dissolved into a pile of very expensive rocks.

For a while Hazel and Frank stood together, watching the remains of the giant melt into the ice. Frank picked up his rope.

"An elephant?" Hazel asked.

Frank scratched his neck. "Yeah. It seemed like a good idea."

He couldn't read her expression. He was afraid he'd finally done something so weird that she'd never want to be around him again. Frank Zhang: lumbering klutz, child of Mars, part-time pachyderm.

Then she kissed him — a real kiss on the lips, much better than the kind of kiss she'd given Percy on the airplane.

"You are amazing," she said. "And you make a very handsome elephant."

Frank felt so flustered that he thought his boots might melt through the ice. Before he could say anything, a voice echoed across the valley:

_You haven't won._

Frank looked up. Shadows were shifting across the nearest mountain, forming the face of a sleeping woman.

_You will never reach home in time_, taunted the voice of Gaea. _Even now Thanatos is attending the death of Camp Jupiter, the final destruction of your Roman friends_.

The mountain rumbled as if the whole earth were laughing. The shadows disappeared.

Hazel and Frank looked at each other. Neither said a word. They climbed onto Arion and sped back toward Glacier Bay.

* * *

: I know exactly what your concerns are and I feel that, at least from my point of view, I haven't diminished Piper's character, she's actually become one of my favorites to write. I can't say much more without spoiling plot, but I hope this addresses your worries! The reaction to her parentage was also fun to write-I even ended up surprising myself with some character choices. Thanks for your comment!

Other news. Here's the deal: I've finished writing the sequel to this, so the rest of forest green will be up throughout the week. Thank you all so much for your support thus far!

In addition, favorites are always lovely, but it's really comments that drive me to write more. I know a lot of stuff isn't original content (yet) but I'd really appreciate it if you share your thoughts on the storyline so far.

Much love and appreciation,

-M


	22. twenty-one

Daria and Percy were waiting on the edge of the glacier. Percy was leaning on the staff with the golden eagle, gazing down at the wreckage he'd caused: several hundred acres of newly open water dotted with icebergs from the ruined camp.

Daria was pissed. She was soaking wet and it was, shocker, still freezing. Sure, she had given Percy her consent to be dropped into the ocean below, but he couldn't summon a bubble or something?

The only remains on the glacier were the main gates, which listed sideways, and a tattered blue banner lying over a pile of snow-bricks. When Frank and Hazel ran up to him, Percy said, "Hey," like they were just meeting for lunch..

''You're alive!" Frank marveled.

Percy frowned. "The fall? That was nothing. I fell twice that far from the St. Louis Arch."

"Could've died." Daria muttered.

"You did what?" Hazel asked.

"Freezing cold. Oh yeah, no problem. _Let's just kill Daria_."

"Shut up. The important thing was we didn't drown."

"So the prophecy was incomplete!" Hazel grinned. "It probably said something like: The son of Neptune will drown a whole bunch of ghosts."

Percy shrugged. He was still looking at Frank like he was miffed. "I got a bone to pick with you, Zhang. You can turn into an eagle? And a bear?"

"He won't stop talking about it," Daria shivered.

"And an elephant," Hazel said proudly.

"An elephant." Percy shook his head in disbelief. "That's your family gift? You can change shape?"

Frank shuffled his feet. "Urn... yeah. Periclymenus, my ancestor, the Argonaut — he could do that. He passed down the ability."

"And he got that gift from Poseidon," Percy said. "That's completely unfair. I can't turn into animals."

Frank stared at him. "Unfair? You can breathe underwater and blow up glaciers and summon freaking hurricanes — and it's unfair that I can be an elephant?"

Percy considered. "Okay. I guess you got a point. But next time I say you're totally beast — "

"Just shut up," Frank said. "Please."

Percy cracked a smile.

"If you guys are done," Hazel said, "we need to go. Camp Jupiter is under attack. They could use that gold eagle."

Percy nodded. "One thing first, though. Hazel, Daria, there's about a ton of Imperial gold weapons and armor at the bottom of the bay now, plus a really nice chariot. I'm betting that stuff could come in handy..."

It took them a long time — too long — but they all knew those weapons could make the difference between victory and defeat if they got them back to camp in time.

Daria and Hazel used their abilities to levitate some items from the bottom of the sea. Percy swam down and brought up more. Even Frank helped by turning into a seal, which was kind of cool, though Percy claimed his breath smelled like fish.

It took all four of them to raise the chariot, but finally they'd managed to haul everything ashore to a black sand beach near the base of the glacier. They couldn't fit everything in the chariot, but they used Frank's rope to strap down most of the gold weapons and the best pieces of armor.

"It looks like Santa's sleigh," Frank said. "Can Arion even pull that much?"

Arion huffed.

"Hazel," Percy said, "I am seriously going to wash your horse's mouth with soap. He says, yes, he can pull it, but he needs food."

Hazel picked up an old Roman dagger, a pugio. It was bent and dull, so it wouldn't be much good in a fight, but it looked like solid Imperial gold.

"Here you go, Arion," she said. "High-performance fuel."

The horse took the dagger in his teeth and chewed it like an apple. Frank made a silent oath never to put his hand near that horse's mouth.

"I'm not doubting Arion's strength," he said carefully, "but will the chariot hold up? The last one — "

"This one has Imperial gold wheels and axle," Daria said. "It should hold."

"If not," Hazel said, "this is going to be a short trip. But we're out of time. Come on!"

Daria, Frank, and Percy climbed into the chariot. Hazel swung up onto Arion's back.

"Giddyup!" she yelled.

The horse's sonic boom echoed across the bay. They sped south, avalanches tumbling down the mountains as they passed.

Four hours.

That's how long it took the fastest horse on the planet to get from Alaska to San Francisco Bay, heading straight over the water down the Northwest Coast.

That's also how long it took for Percy's memory to return completely. The process had started in Portland when he had drunk the gorgon's blood, but his past life had still been maddeningly fuzzy. Now, as they headed back into the Olympian gods' territory, Percy remembered everything: the war with Kronos, his sixteenth birthday at Camp Half-Blood, his trainer Chiron the centaur, his best friend Grover, his brother Tyson, and most of all Annabeth — two great months of dating, and then BOOM. He'd been abducted by the alien known as Hera. Or Juno... whatever.

Eight months of his life stolen. Next time Percy saw the Queen of Olympus, he was definitely going to give her a goddess-sized slap upside the head.

His friends and family must be going out of their minds. If Camp Jupiter was in such bad trouble, he could only guess what Camp Half-Blood must be facing without him. Not to be arrogant of course.

He understood Juno's plan: Unite the Roman and Greek demigods to create an elite team of heroes, then somehow convince the gods to fight alongside them. But first, they had to save Camp Jupiter.

The coastline began to look familiar. They raced past the Mendocino lighthouse. Shortly afterward, Mount Tam and the Marin headlands loomed out of the fog. Arion shot straight under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay.

They tore through Berkeley and into the Oakland Hills. When they reached the hilltop above the Caldecott Tunnel, Arion shuddered like a broken car and came to a stop, his chest heaving.

Hazel patted his sides lovingly. "You did great, Arion."

The horse was too tired even to cuss: Of course I did great. What did you expect?

Percy, Daria, and Frank jumped off the chariot. Percy wished there'd been comfortable seats or an in-flight meal. His legs were wobbly. His joints were so stiff, he could barely walk. If he went into battle like this, the enemy would call him Old Man Jackson.

Frank didn't look much better. He hobbled to the top of the hill and peered down at the camp. "Guys. ..you need to see this."

When the three of them joined him, Percy's heart sank. The battle had begun, and it wasn't going well. The Twelfth Legion was arrayed on the Field of Mars, trying to protect the city. Scorpions fired into the ranks of the Earthborn. Hannibal the elephant plowed down monsters right and left, but the defenders were badly outnumbered.

On her pegasus Scipio, Reyna flew around the giant Polybotes, trying to keep him occupied. The Lares had formed shimmering purple lines against a mob of black, vaporous shades in ancient armor. Veteran demigods from the city had joined the battle, and were pushing their shield wall against an onslaught of wild centaurs. Giant eagles circled the battlefield, doing aerial combat with two snake-haired ladies in green Bargain Mart vests — Stheno and Euryale.

"Shit," Daria cursed. "We've got to go now."

Hazel sighed. "We're too late,"

"No," Percy said. "They're still fighting. Daria's got the right idea, we can do this."

"Where's Lupa?" Frank asked, desperation creeping into his voice. "She and the wolves... they should be here."

Percy thought about his time with the wolf goddess. He'd come to respect her teachings, but he'd also learned that wolves had limits. They weren't front-line fighters. They only attacked when they had vastly superior numbers, and usually under the cover of darkness. Besides, Lupa's first

rule was self-sufficiency. She would help her children as much as she could, train them to fight — but in the end, they were either predator or prey

Romans had to fight for themselves. They had to prove their worth or die. That was Lupa's way.

"She did what she could," Daria spoke for Percy. "She slowed down the army on its way south. Now it's up to us. We've got to get the gold eagle and these weapons to the legion."

"But Arion is out of steam!" Hazel said. "We can't haul this stuff ourselves."

"Maybe we don't have to." Percy scanned the hilltops. If Tyson had gotten his dream message in Vancouver, help might be close.

He whistled as loud as he could — a good New York cab whistle that would've been heard all the way from Times Square to Central Park.

Shadows rippled in the trees. A huge black shape bounded out of nowhere — a mastiff the size of an SUV, with a Cyclops and a harpy on her back.

"Hellhound!" Frank scrambled backward.

"It's okay!" Percy grinned. "These are friends."

"Brother!" Tyson climbed off and ran toward Percy. Percy tried to brace himself, but it was no good. Tyson slammed into him and smothered him in a hug. For a few seconds, Percy could only see black spots and lots of flannel. Then Tyson let go and laughed with delight, looking Percy over with that massive baby brown eye.

"You are not dead!" he said. "I like it when you are not dead!"

Ella fluttered to the ground and began preening her feathers. "Ella found a dog," she announced. "A large dog. And a Cyclops."

Was she blushing? Before Percy could decide, his black mastiff pounced on him, knocking Percy to the ground and barking so loudly that even Arion backed up.

"Hey, Mrs. O'Leary," Percy said. "Yeah, I love you too, girl. Good dog."

"What the hell?"

Hazel made a squeaking sound. "You have a hellhound named Mrs. O'Leary?"

"Long story." Percy managed to get to his feet and wipe off the dog slobber. "You can ask your brother. . ."

His voice wavered when he saw Hazel's expression. He'd almost forgotten that Nico di Angelo was missing.

Hazel had told him what Thanatos had said about searching for the Doors of Death in Rome, and Percy was anxious to find Nico for his own reasons — to wring the kid's neck for having pretended he didn't know Percy when he first came to camp. Still, he was Hazel's brother, and finding him was a conversation for another time.

"Sorry," he said. "But yeah, this is my dog, Mrs. O'Leary. Tyson — these are my friends, Frank and Hazel."

Percy turned to Ella, who was counting all the barbs in one of her feathers.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "We were worried about you."

"Ella is not strong," she said. "Cyclopes are strong. Tyson found Ella. Tyson took care of Ella."

Percy raised his eyebrows. Ella was blushing.

"Tyson," he said, "you big charmer, you."

Tyson turned the same color as Ella's plumage. "Urn. ..No." He leaned down and whispered nervously, loud enough for all the others to hear: "She is pretty."

Frank tapped his head like he was afraid his brain had short-circuited. "Anyway, there's this battle happening."

"Right," Percy agreed. "Tyson, where's Annabeth? Is any other help coming?"

Tyson pouted. His big brown eye got misty. "The big ship is not ready. Leo says tomorrow, maybe two days. Then they will come."

Despite it being bad news, Daria looked the way Percy felt: like the sun was coming out after eons of gray.

"We don't have two minutes," Percy said. "Okay, here's the plan."


	23. twenty-two

Daria's home was under attack.

She created a sled out of a large piece of rock to keep up with Percy's pet hellhound, feeling a bit like an earthbender or something. Percy carried the golden eagle standard proudly, and Daria was glad he was on their side.

They skirted the perimeter of the camp and took the northernmost bridge over the Little Tiber, charging onto the Field of Mars at the western edge of the battle. A horde of Cyclopes was hammering away at the campers of the Fifth Cohort, who were trying to keep their shields locked just

to stay alive. Meanwhile, the First Cohort was being terribly led by Octavian. They were getting overpowered by emposai and the likes. She nodded at Percy once and they broke away.

"First Cohort!" She yelled, her rock tornado carrying her high enough to get an excellent glance at Octavian's terrified expression. "_Ad signa_. Don't break ranks."

She joined Michael Kahale on the ground where he was defending himself against a Cyclops 4 feet taller than he was. Without saying a word a dived left, leaving the right open for Daria to help him. The Cyclops didn't stand a chance and disintegrated with a swift blow to the gut.

"'Bout time you got here Jackson." Micheal grinned, holding his arm out for a fist bump. "We were starting to think you'd left us with Octavian for the next five years."

Daria snorted, "Like I would let that hap-duck!"

A sword swung right over where Michael's head had been seconds earlier. A gold plated monster grinned eerily at them to which Daria responded by dumping a rock on his head.

"Thanks," Michael said grimly, and their little reunion was over. Daria spotted Reyna and Percy approach Polybotes from the corner of her eye.

"I've got to go," she touched her friend's shoulder. "Make sure Octavian doesn't get my cohort killed." He nodded.

"Romans!" Reyna's voice boomed across the fields. "Rally to the eagle!"

Demigods and monsters alike turned and gawked as Percy bounded forward on his hellhound.

"What is this?" Polybotes demanded. "What is this?"

Daria felt a rush of power coursing through the standard's staff onto the field. Percy raised the eagle and shouted, "Twelfth Legion Fulminata!"

Thunder shook the valley. The eagle let loose a blinding flash, and a thousand tendrils of lightning exploded from its golden wings — arcing in front of Percy like the branches of an enormous deadly tree, connecting with the nearest monsters, leaping from one to another, completely ignoring the Roman forces.

When the lightning stopped, the First and Second Cohorts were facing one surprised-looking giant and several hundred smoking piles of ash. The enemy's center line had been charred to oblivion.

The look on Octavian's face was priceless. The centurion stared at Percy with shock, then outrage. Then, when their own troops started to cheer, he had no choice except to join the shouting: "Rome! Rome!"

The giant Polybotes backed up uncertainly, but Daria knew the battle wasn't over. She finally reached Percy's side. "Man, you couldn't have done that like three minutes ago?"

"Did you ever learn not to talk so much during a battle?" He retorted. "Come on, let's get this guy."

The Fourth Cohort was still surrounded by Cyclopes. Even Hannibal the elephant was having a hard time wading through so many monsters. His black Kevlar armor was ripped so that his label just said ant.

The veterans and Lares on the eastern flank were being pushed toward the city. The monsters' siege tower was still hurling explosive green fireballs into the streets. The gorgons had disabled the giant eagles and now flew unchallenged over the giant's remaining centaurs and the Earthborn, trying to rally them.

"Stand your ground!" Stheno yelled. "I've got free samples!"

Polybotes bellowed. A dozen fresh basilisks fell out of his hair, turning the grass to poison yellow. "You think this changes anything, Percy Jackson? I cannot be destroyed! Come forward, son of Neptune. I will destroy you and your cousin!"

Percy dismounted. He handed Dakota the standard. "You are the cohort's senior centurion. Take care of this." Dakota blinked, then he straightened with pride. He dropped his Kool-Aid flask and took the eagle. "I will carry it with honor."

"Frank, Hazel, Tyson," Daria said, "help the Fourth Cohort. We've got a giant to kill."

Percy raised Riptide, but before he could advance, horns blew in the northern hills. Another army appeared on the ridge — hundreds of warriors in black-and-gray camouflage, armed with spears and shields. Interspersed among their ranks were a dozen battle forklifts, their sharpened tines gleaming in the sunset and flaming bolts nocked in their crossbows.

"Amazons," Frank said. "Great."

Polybotes laughed. "You, see? Our reinforcements have arrived! Rome will fall today!"

The Amazons lowered their spears and charged down the hill. Their forklifts barreled into battle. The giant's army cheered — until the Amazons changed course and headed straight for the monsters' intact eastern flank.

"Amazons, forward!" On the largest forklift stood a girl who looked like an older version of Reyna, in black combat armor with a glittering gold belt around her waist.

"Queen Hylla!" said Hazel. "She survived!"

The Amazon queen shouted: "To my sister's aid! Destroy the monsters!"

"Destroy!" Her troops' cry echoed through the valley.

Reyna wheeled her pegasus toward Percy. Her eyes gleamed. Her expression said: I could hug you right now. Daria knew she didn't give that out freely. She shouted, "Romans! Advance!"

The battlefield descended into absolute chaos. Amazon and Roman lines swung toward the enemy like the Doors of Death themselves.

But they had only one goal. Percy pointed at the giant.

"You versus us. To the finish."

They met by the aqueduct, which had somehow survived the battle so far. Polybotes fixed that. He swiped his trident and smashed the nearest brick arch, unleashing a waterfall.

"Go on, then!" Polybotes taunted. "Let me see your power! Does water do your bidding? Does it heal you? But I am born to oppose Neptune."

The giant thrust his hand under the water. As the torrent passed through his fingers it turned dark green. He flung some at them, Percy instinctively deflected it with his will. The liquid splattered the ground in front of him. With a nasty hiss, the grass withered and smoked.

" My touch turns water to poison," Polybotes said. "Let's see what it does to your blood!"

He threw his net at Daria, but she rolled out of the way. She threw sand into the giant's eyes. While Polybotes was blinded, Percy charged. He plunged Riptide into the giant's belly then withdrew it and vaulted away, leaving the giant roaring in pain. The plan was clear: Daria would defend and Percy would attack.

The strike would have dissolved any lesser monster, but Polybotes just staggered and looked down at the golden ichor — the blood of immortals — spilling from his wound. The cut was already closing.

"Good try, demigods," he snarled. "But I will break you still."

"Gotta catch us first," Percy said.

He turned and bolted toward the city. Daria quick on his heels, throwing up obstacles to trip Polybotes up. Who knew a patch of sunflowers could cause so much damage?

"What?" the giant yelled incredulously. "You run, cowards? Stand still and die!"

They had no intention of doing that. Daria knew they couldn't kill Polybotes alone. But she hoped Percy had a plan because she did not.

He passed Mrs. O'Leary, who looked up curiously with a gorgon wriggling in her mouth. (Daria still wasn't over that. Of course Percy Jackson would have a fucking hellhound as a pet).

"I'm fine!" Percy yelled as they ran by, followed by a giant screaming bloody murder.

He jumped over a burning scorpion and Daria ducked as Hannibal threw a Cyclops across her path. Out of the corner of his eye, she saw Tyson pounding the Earthborn into the ground like a game of whack-a-mole. Ella was fluttering above him, dodging missiles and calling out advice: "The groin. The Earthborn's groin is sensitive."

SMASH!

"Good. Yes. Tyson found its groin."

"Percy needs help?" Tyson called.

"I'm good!"

"Die!" Polybotes yelled, closing fast. They kept running.

In the distance, she saw Hazel and Arion galloping across the battlefield, cutting down centaurs and karpoi. One grain spirit yelled, "Wheat! I'll give you wheat!" but Arion stomped him into a pile of breakfast cereal. Queen Hylla and Reyna joined forces, forklift and pegasus riding together, scattering the dark shades of fallen warriors. Frank turned himself into an elephant and stomped through some Cyclopes, and Dakota held the golden eagle high, blasting lightning at any monsters that dared to challenge the Fifth Cohort.

All that was great, but they needed a different kind of help. They needed a god.

To buy some time, Daria ducked behind one of the aqueduct's columns. The giant swung his trident. When the column crumbled, Daria used the pressure to help her guide the collapse — bringing down several tons of bricks on the giant's head. Following her cousin, she bolted for the city limits.

"Terminus!" Daria yelled.

The nearest statue of the god was about sixty feet ahead. His stone eyes snapped open as they ran toward him.

"Completely unacceptable!" he complained. "Buildings on fire! Invaders! Get them out of here, Daria Jackson!"

"I'm trying," she said. "But there's this giant, Polybotes."

"Yes, I know! Wait — Excuse me a moment." Terminus closed his eyes in concentration. A flaming green cannonball sailed overhead and suddenly vaporized. "I can't stop all the missiles," Terminus complained. "Why can't they be civilized and attack more slowly? I'm only one god."

"Help us kill the giant," Percy said, "and this will all be over. A god and demigod working together — that's the only way to kill him."

Terminus sniffed. "I guard borders. I don't kill giants. It's not in my job description."

"Terminus, come on!" Percy took another step forward, and the god shrieked indignantly.

"Stop right there, young man! No weapons inside the Pomerian Line!"

"But we're under attack."

"I don't care! Rules are rules. When people don't follow the rules, I get very, very angry."

Percy shared a glance with Daria. "Hold that thought."

He sprinted back toward the giant. "Hey, ugly!"

"Ah, insults." Daria mused, ready to block off the city limits. "The world's best war tactic."

"Rarrr!" Polybotes burst from the ruins of the aqueduct. The water was still pouring over him, turning to poison and creating a steaming marsh around his feet.

"You... you will die slowly," the giant promised. He picked up his trident, now dripping with green venom.

All around them, the battle was winding down. As the last monsters were mopped up, Daria's friends started gathering, forming a ring around the giant.

"I will take you prisoner, Percy Jackson," Polybotes snarled. "I will torture you under the sea. Every day the water will heal you, and every day I will bring you closer to death." Daria tried not to be upset about the giant's lack of attention to her. Though, he was the anti-neptune, not anti-Gaea. Now _that_ would be awkward.

"Great offer," Percy said. "But I think I'll just kill you instead."

Polybotes bellowed in rage. He shook his head, and more basilisks flew from his hair.

"Get back!" Daria warned.

Fresh chaos spread through the ranks. Hazel spurred Arion and put herself between the basilisks and the campers. Frank changed form — shrinking into something lean and furry... a weasel? Daria thought Frank had lost his mind, but when Frank charged the basilisks, they absolutely freaked out. They slithered away with Frank chasing after them in hot weasely pursuit.

Daria nodded. "All on you now, Perce."

Polybotes pointed his trident and ran toward Percy. As the giant reached the Pomerian Line, Percy jumped aside like a bullfighter. Polybotes barreled across the city limits.

"THAT'S IT!" Terminus cried. "That's AGAINST THE RULES!"

Polybotes frowned, obviously confused that he was being told off by a statue. "What are you?" he growled. "Shut up!"

He pushed the statue over and turned back to Percy.

"Now I'm MAD!" Terminus shrieked. "I'm strangling you. Feel that? Those are my hands around your neck, you big bully. Get over here! I'm going to head-butt you so hard — "

"Enough!" The giant stepped on the statue and broke Terminus in three pieces — pedestal, body, and head.

"You DIDN'T!" shouted Terminus. "Percy Jackson, you've got yourself a deal! Let's kill this upstart."

The giant laughed so hard that he didn't realize Percy was charging until it was too late. Percy jumped up, vaulting off the giant's knee, and drove Riptide straight through one of the metal mouths on Polybotes's breastplate, sinking the Celestial bronze hilt-deep in his chest. The giant stumbled backward, tripping over Terminus's pedestal and crashing to the ground.

While he was trying to get up, clawing at the sword in his chest, Percy hefted the head of the statue.

"You'll never win!" the giant groaned. "You cannot defeat me alone."

"I'm not alone." Percy raised the stone head above the giant's face. "I'd like you to meet my friend Terminus. He's a god!"

Too late, awareness and fear dawned in the giant's face. Percy smashed the god's head as hard as he could into the Polybotes's nose, and the giant dissolved, crumbling into a steaming heap of seaweed, reptile skin, and poisonous muck.

Percy staggered away, completely exhausted.

"Ha!" said the head of Terminus. "That will teach him to obey the rules of Rome."

For a moment, the battlefield was silent except for a few fires burning, and a few retreating monsters screaming in panic.

A ragged circle of Romans and Amazons stood around Percy. Tyson, Ella, and Mrs. O'Leary were there. Daria grinned at him with pride. Hell yeah, that was _her_ cousin.

They began to chant, "Percy! Percy!" They mobbed him. Before he knew it, they were raising him on a shield. The cry changed to, "Praetor! Praetor!" Daria laughed at Percy's expression, and she was completely sure Jason would do the same.

Among the chanters was Reyna herself, who held up her hand and grasped Percy's in congratulation. Then the mob of cheering Romans carried him around the Pomerian Line, carefully avoiding Terminus's borders, and escorted him back home to Camp Jupiter. Daria touched her necklace again, smiling. They had won.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who let me know about the formatting issue! Only two more chapters to go! Wooo


	24. twenty-three

The Feast of Fortuna had nothing to do with tuna, which was fine with Percy.

Campers, Amazons and Lares crowded the mess hall for a lavish dinner. Even the fauns were invited, since they'd helped out by bandaging the wounded after the battle. Wind nymphs zipped around the room, delivering orders of pizza, burgers, steaks, salads, Chinese food, and burritos, all flying at terminal velocity.

Despite the exhausting battle, everyone was in good spirits. Casualties had been light, and the few campers who'd previously died and come back to life, like Gwen, hadn't been taken to the Underworld. Maybe Thanatos had turned a blind eye. Or maybe Pluto had given those folks a pass, like he had for Hazel. Whatever the case, nobody complained.

Colorful Amazon and Roman banners hung side-by-side from the rafters. The restored golden eagle stood proudly behind the praetor's table, and the walls were decorated with cornucopias — magical horns of plenty that spilled out recycling waterfalls of fruit, chocolate, and fresh-baked cookies.

The cohorts mingled freely with the Amazons, jumping from couch to couch as they pleased, and for once the soldiers of the Fifth were welcome everywhere. Percy changed seats so many times, he lost track of his dinner.

There was a lot of flirting and arm-wrestling — which seemed to be the same thing for the Amazons. At one point Percy was cornered by Kinzie, the Amazon who'd disarmed him in Seattle. He had to explain that he already had a girlfriend. Fortunately Kinzie took it well. She told him what had

happened after they'd left Seattle — how Hylla had defeated her challenger Otrera in two consecutive duels to the death, so that the Amazons were now calling their queen Hylla Twice-Kill.

"Otrera stayed dead the second time," Kinzie said, batting her eyes. "We have you to thank for that. If you ever need a new girlfriend. ..well, I think you'd look great in an iron collar and an orange jumpsuit."

Percy couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. He politely thanked her and changed seats.

Once everyone had eaten and the plates stopped flying, Reyna made a short speech. She formally welcomed the Amazons, thanking them for their help. Then she hugged her sister and everybody applauded.

Reyna raised her hands for quiet. "My sister and I haven't always seen eye to eye — "

"That's an understatement," Daria muttered next to Percy, but she was smiling.

"She joined the Amazons," Reyna continued. "I joined Camp Jupiter. But looking around this room, I think we both made good choices. Strangely, our destinies were made possible by the hero you all just raised to praetor on the battlefield — Percy Jackson."

More cheering. The sisters raised their glasses to Percy and beckoned him forward.

Everybody asked for a speech, but Percy didn't know what to say. He protested that he really wasn't the best person for praetor, but the campers drowned him out with applause. Reyna took away his probatio neck plate. Octavian shot him a dirty look, then turned to the crowd and smiled like this was all his idea. He ripped open a teddy bear and pronounced good omens for the coming year — Fortuna would bless them. He passed his hand over Percy's arm and shouted: "Percy Jackson, son of Neptune, first year of service!"

The Roman symbols burned onto Percy's arm: a trident, SPQR, and a single stripe. It felt like someone was pressing a hot iron into his skin, but Percy managed not to scream.

Octavian embraced him and whispered, "I hope it hurt."

Then Reyna gave him an eagle medal and purple cloak, symbols of the praetor. "You earned these, Percy."

Queen Hylla pounded him on the back. "And I've decided not to kill you."

"Urn, thanks," Percy said.

He made his way around the mess hall one more time, because all the campers wanted him at their table. Vitellius the Lar followed, stumbling over his shimmering purple toga and readjusting his sword, telling everyone how he'd predicted Percy's rise to greatness.

"I demanded he join the Fifth Cohort!" the ghost said proudly. "Spotted his talent right away!"

Don the faun popped up in a nurse's hat, a stack of cookies in each hand. "Man, congrats and stuff! Awesome! Hey, do you have any spare change?"

All the attention embarrassed Percy, but he was happy to see how well Hazel and Frank were being treated. Everyone called them the saviors of Rome, and they deserved it. There was even talk about reinstating Frank's great-grandfather, Shen Lun, to the legion's roll of honor. Apparently he hadn't caused the 1 906 earthquake after all.

Daria was chatting with Micheal Kahale; and when was she not really? It looked like they were playfully bickering about something as their other friends contributed to the conversation. She glanced up, grinning at Reyna before returning to wacking Micheal with a spoon.

Percy sat for a while with Tyson and Ella, who were honored guests at Dakota's table. Tyson kept calling for peanut-butter sandwiches, eating them as fast as the nymphs could deliver. Ella perched at his shoulder on top of the couch and nibbled furiously on cinnamon rolls.

"Cinnamon rolls are good for harpies," she said. "June twenty-fourth is a good day. Roy Disney's birthday, and Fortuna's Feast, and Independence Day for Zanzibar. And Tyson."

She glanced at Tyson, then blushed and looked away.

After dinner, the entire legion got the night off. Percy and his friends drifted down to the city, which wasn't quite recovered from the battle, but the fires were out, most of the debris had been swept up, and the citizens were determined to celebrate.

At the Pomerian Line, the statue of Terminus wore a paper party hat.

"Welcome, praetor!" he said. "You need any giants' faces smashed while you're in town, just let me know."

"Thanks, Terminus," Percy said. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Yes, good. Your praetor's cape is an inch too low on the left. There — that's better. Where is my assistant? Julia!"

The little girl ran out from behind the pedestal. She was wearing a green dress tonight, and her hair was still in pigtails. When she smiled, Percy saw that her front teeth were starting to come in. She held up a box full of party hats.

Percy tried to decline, but Julia gave him the big adoring eyes.

"Ah, sure," he said. "I'll take the blue crown."

She offered Daria a gold pirate hat. "I'm gonna be Percy Jackson when I grow up," she told Daria solemnly.

Daria smiled and ruffled her hair. "That's a good thing to be, Julia."

"Although," Frank said, picking out a hat shaped like a polar bear's head, "Frank Zhang would be good too."

"Frank!" Hazel said, wearing her jeweled crown.

They put on their hats and continued to the forum, which was lit up with multicolored lanterns. The fountains glowed purple. The coffee shops were doing a brisk business, and street musicians filled the air with the sounds of guitar, lyre, panpipes, and armpit noises. (Percy didn't get that last one. Maybe it was an old Roman musical tradition.)

The goddess Iris must've been in a party mood too. As Percy and his friends strolled past the damaged Senate House, a dazzling rainbow appeared in the night sky. Unfortunately the goddess sent another blessing, too — a gentle rain of gluten-free R.O.F.L. cupcake simulations, which Percy figured would either make cleaning up harder, or rebuilding easier. The cupcakes would make great bricks.

For a while, Percy wandered the streets with Daria, Hazel, and Frank, who kept brushing shoulders.

Finally, he said, "I'm a little tired, guys. You go ahead." Daria agreed.

Hazel and Frank protested, but Percy could tell they wanted some time alone.

As he headed back to camp, he saw Mrs. O'Leary playing with Hannibal in the Field of Mars. Finally, she'd found a playmate she could roughhouse with. They frolicked around, slamming into each other, breaking fortifications, and generally having an excellent time.

Daria gazed around probably thinking about the same things he was. Percy didn't want to ruin the mood, but he knew he had to ask. "Daria," they stopped at the fort gates, across from the valley. "Who is your mother?"

She bit her lip, staring at the eastern horizon as if the ship were about to arrive any second. "I don't know. I think it could be Ceres."

"Demeter can't control metal." He pointed out. "Plus, didn't the grain spirits serve her? She wouldn't attack her own daughter."

She grimaced when he said that, as if she had been physically hurt. "I've been looking into it. There's a possibility Ops could be my mother," she searched his expression. "You would know her as Rhea-Saturn's wife."

"Isn't Kronos's wife evil?"

Daria stared at him, "She's the one who saved Jupiter, Turtle Brain."

Right. "Turtle Brain?"

She shrugged, walking with him to the Via Principalis. Reyna had told her to show him to the second praetor's house, Jason Grace's house. "You deserved it."

They reached the house, which was beautifully constructed. Daria pushed the door open, turning on the lights before making her way to the kitchen.

"You seem to know your way around," Percy commented as he took in the decor. As much as there were remnants of Jason's life here, Percy could tell that half the house was basically Daria's.

The girl in question blushed lightly as she got a glass of water, "Shut up."

Percy gasped mockingly, "Are you sleeping with the Praetor, Daria Jackson?"

This time she gave him the middle finger. "Shut up!"

He looked around, suddenly growing uncomfortable. Medals of Honor were hung on the wall next to pictures of Jason Grace's life. This was another man's house; not his. "I can't stay here."

Daria didn't look surprised. She nodded, setting down her glass before running a hand through her hair. "Let's go then."

Daria and Gaea needed to have a chat. She crawled underneath her covers, sleep came easy to her after the battle. She only wished her dreams were as peaceful.

Gaea stood there, in the same forest setting, in the same ivory white dress. She didn't seem to hear Daria, but the demigod wasn't about to approach her. She mustered up her strength, preparing to speak.

"_My daughter_," Gaea crooned. "_The most powerful demigod to grace the earth._"

Daria ignored her. "What do you want from me?" She demanded. "I don't understand how you can train me only to send forces to kill the people I care about."

"_You are destined for greatness_." The goddess said simply. "_Don't you recall what the gods said? You will betray your friends, and then_," she paused. "_You will serve me_."

Daria crossed her arms. "Why would I do that?"

Gaea turned and Daria stumbled backwards. Her once forest green eyes had been replaced with swirling black voids. The air grew frigid and Daria could feel her mother's powers take effect on the mood of the life around them. The once still and tall willow began to thrash angrily, the grass rustled with hidden monsters.

"_I promise you this_," Gaea's voice echoed. "_Do my bidding and your friends will be spared_." Her eyes glinted, "_Betray me, my dearest, and I will kill them all_."

"And if I joined you," Daria hesitated. "I would also help rule the world?"

"_I will give you everything you've ever wanted_," she promised.

Daria willed the earth into a frenzy. A dirt storm started destroying everything in its path, overturning heavy rocks and causing the howling wind to turn into a piercing shrill. "You have yourself a deal."

The next morning Daria and her friends ate breakfast early, then headed into the city before the senate was due to convene. She did her best not to think about her dream last night, but in moments of silence she could hear her mother's voice in her head. Gaea had assured her that she was done with her midnight training sessions. Daria wished it was that simple.

She knew that Gaea would visit again and again with her list of demands, waiting to be fulfilled by none other than her daughter. Side quests and betrayals, that was the future that Daria had signed up for; and in all honesty, she could see where Gaea was coming from. The gods had caused them nothing but pain for as long as Daria had been alive. She was just doing what she had to.

On the way to the senate they passed the stables, where Tyson and Mrs. O'Leary were sleeping in. Tyson snored on a bed of hay next to the unicorns, a blissful look on his face like he was dreaming of ponies. Mrs. O'Leary had rolled on her back and covered her ears with her paws. On the stable roof, Ella roosted in a pile of old Roman scrolls, her head tucked under her wings.

When they got to the forum, they sat by the fountains and watched the sun come up. The citizens were already busy sweeping up cupcake simulations, confetti, and party hats from last night's celebration. The engineer corps was working on a new arch that would commemorate the victory over Polybotes.

Hazel said she'd even heard talk of a formal triumph for the four of them — a parade around the city followed by a week of games and celebrations — but Daria knew they'd never get the chance. They didn't have time.

Percy told them about his dream of Juno.

Hazel frowned. "The gods were busy last night. Show him, Frank."

Frank reached into his coat pocket. Daria thought he might bring out his piece of firewood, but instead he produced a thin paperback book and a note on red stationery.

"These were on my pillow this morning." He passed them to Percy who passed them to Daria. "Like the Tooth Fairy visited."

The book was The Art of War by Sun Tzu. She could guess who sent it. _The letter read: Good job, kid. A real man 's best weapon is his mind. This was your mom 's favorite book. Give it a read. P S.- I hope your friend Percy has learned some respect for me. _

"Wow." Percy said as she handed back the book. "Maybe Mars is different from Ares. I don't think Ares can read."

Frank flipped through the pages. "There's a lot in here about sacrifice, knowing the cost of war. Back in Vancouver, Mars told me I'd have to put my duty ahead of my life or the entire war would go sideways. I thought he meant freeing Thanatos, but now... I don't know. I'm still alive, so maybe the worst is yet to come."

He glanced nervously at Percy, and Daria got the feeling Frank wasn't telling them everything. She wondered if Mars had said something about her cousin, and if she wanted to know.

Besides, Frank had already given enough. He had watched his family home burn down. He'd lost his mother and his grandmother.

"You risked your life," Daria said. "You were willing to burn up to save the quest. Mars can't expect more than that."

"Maybe," Frank said doubtfully.

Hazel squeezed Frank's hand.

They seemed more comfortable around each other this morning, not quite as nervous and awkward. Daria wondered if they'd started dating. She hoped so, but she decided it was better not to ask.

"Hazel, how about you?" Percy asked. "Any word from Pluto?"

She looked down. Several diamonds popped out of the ground at her feet. "No," she admitted. "In a way, I think he sent a message through Thanatos. My name wasn't on that list of escaped souls. It should have been."

"You think your dad is giving you a pass?" Daria asked.

Hazel shrugged. "Pluto can't visit me or even talk to me without acknowledging I'm alive. Then he'd have to enforce the laws of death and have Thanatos bring me back to the Underworld. I think my dad is turning a blind eye. I think — I think he wants me to find Nico."

Daria glanced at the sunrise, hoping to see a warship descending from the sky. So far, nothing.

"We'll find your brother," Daria promised. "As soon as the ship gets here, we'll sail for Rome."

Hazel and Frank exchanged uneasy looks, like they'd already talked about this.

"Percy, Daria..." Frank said. "If you want us to come along, we're in. But are you sure? I mean... we know you've got tons of friends at the other camp. And you could pick anyone at Camp Jupiter now. If we're not part of the eight, we'd understand — "

"Are you kidding?" Percy said. "You think I'd leave my team behind? After surviving Fleecy's wheat germ, running from cannibals, and hiding under blue giant butts in Alaska?"

"Friends who ride Arion together stay together," Daria grinned.

The tension broke. All four of them started cracking up, maybe a little too much, but it was a relief to be alive, with the warm sun shining, and not worrying — at least for the moment — about sinister faces appearing in the shadows of the hills.

Hazel took a deep breath. "The prophecy Ella gave us — about the child of wisdom, and the mark of Athena burning through Rome. ..do you know what that's about?"

"I'm not sure," Percy admitted. "I think there's more to the prophecy. Maybe Ella can remember the rest of it."

Frank slipped his book into his pocket. "We need to take her with us — I mean, for her own safety. If Octavian finds out Ella has the Sibylline Books memorized..."

Daria shuddered. Octavian used prophecies to keep his power at camp. Now that Percy had taken away his chance at praetor, Octavian would be looking for other ways to exert influence. If he got hold of Ella...

"You're right," Percy said. "We've got to protect her. I just hope we can convince her — "

"Percy!" Tyson came running across the forum, Ella fluttering behind him with a scroll in her talons. When they reached the fountain, Ella dropped the scroll in Percy's lap.

"Special delivery," she said. "From an aura. A wind spirit. Yes, Ella got a special delivery."

"Good morning, brothers and sister!" Tyson had hay in his hair and peanut butter in his teeth. "The scroll is from Leo. He is funny and small."

The scroll looked unremarkable, but when Percy spread it across his lap, a video recording flickered on the parchment. A kid in Greek armor grinned up at them. He had an impish face, curly black hair, and wild eyes, like he'd just had several cups of coffee. He was sitting in a dark room with timber walls like a ship's cabin. Oil lamps swung back and forth on the ceiling.

Hazel stifled a scream.

"What?" Frank asked. "What's wrong?"

Slowly, Daria realized the curly-haired kid looked familiar, but she didn't know from where.

"Hey!" said the guy in the video. "Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera. This is Leo. I'm the..." He looked off screen and yelled: "What's my title? Am I like admiral, or captain, or — "

A girl's voice yelled back, "Repair boy."

"Very funny, Piper," Leo grumbled. He turned back to the parchment screen. "So yeah, I'm ... ah ... supreme commander of the Argo II. Yeah, I like that! Anyway, we're gonna be sailing toward you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship. We'd appreciate it if you'd not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the Romans that. See you soon. Yours in demigodishness, and all that. Peace out."

The parchment turned blank.

"It can't be," Hazel said.

"What?" Daria asked. "You know that guy?"

Hazel looked like she'd seen a ghost."It's Sammy Valdez," she said. "But how. ..how — "

"It can't be," Percy said. "That guy's name is Leo. And it's been seventy-something years. It has to be a..."

"What?" Daria asked. "A coincidence?" Demigods didn't have those.

They were interrupted by horns blowing in the distance. The senators came marching into the forum with Reyna at the lead.

"It's meeting time," Daria said. "Come on. We've got to warn them about the warship."

* * *

Thanks for reading! And thank you for all the hype lol, last chapter will be posted tomorrow!

-M


	25. twenty-four

"Why should we trust these Greeks?" Octavian was saying.

He'd been pacing the senate floor for five minutes, going on and on, trying to counter what Percy had told them about Juno's plan and the Prophecy of Eight.

The senate shifted restlessly, but most of them were too afraid to interrupt Octavian while he was on a roll. Meanwhile, the sun climbed in the sky, shining through the broken senate roof and giving Octavian a natural spotlight.

The Senate House was packed. Queen Hylla, Frank, and Hazel sat in the front row with Daria and the rest of the senators. Veterans and ghosts filled the back rows. Even Tyson and Ella had been allowed to sit in the back. Tyson kept waving and grinning at Percy.

Percy and Reyna occupied matching praetors' chairs on the dais, which was incredibly entertaining to Daria. It wasn't easy looking dignified wearing a bed sheet and a purple cape.

"The camp is safe," Octavian continued. "I'll be the first to congratulate our heroes for bringing back the legion's eagle and so much Imperial gold! Truly we have been blessed with good fortune. But why do more? Why tempt fate?"

"I'm glad you asked." Percy stood, taking the question as an opening.

Octavian stammered, "I wasn't — "

" — part of the quest," Percy said. "Yes, I know. And you're wise to let me explain, since I was."

Daria grinned. Octavian had no choice but to sit down and try not to look embarrassed.

"Gaea is waking," Percy said. "We've defeated two of her giants, but that's only the beginning. The real war will take place in the old land of the gods. The quest will take us to Rome, and eventually to Greece."

An uneasy ripple spread through the senate.

"I know, I know," Percy said. "You've always thought of the Greeks as your enemies. And there's a good reason for that. I think the gods have kept our two camps apart because whenever we meet, we fight. But that can change. It has to change if we're to defeat Gaea. That's what the Prophecy of Eight means. Eight demigods, Greek and Roman, will have to close the Doors of Death together."

"Ha!" shouted a Lar from the back row. "The last time a praetor tried to interpret the Prophecy of Eight, it was Michael Varus, who lost our eagle in Alaska! Why should we believe you now?"

Octavian smiled smugly. Some of his allies in the senate began nodding and grumbling. Even some of the veterans looked uncertain.

"Cato," Daria snapped. "You're dead. And that was a long time ago. Shut up and sit down." He winced and sat. Yep, she still had it.

"I carried Juno across the Tiber," Percy reminded them, speaking as firmly as he could. "She told me that the Prophecy of Eight is coming to pass. Mars also appeared to you in person. Do you think two of your most important gods would appear at camp if the situation wasn't serious?"

"He's right," Gwen said from the second row. "I, for one, trust Percy's word. Greek or not, he restored the honor of the legion. You saw him on the battlefield last night. Would anyone here say he is not a true hero of Rome?"

Nobody argued. A few nodded in agreement.

Reyna stood. Daria watched her anxiously. Her opinion could change everything — for better or worse.

"You claim this is a combined quest," she said. "You claim Juno intends for us to work with this — this other group, Camp Half-Blood. Yet the Greeks have been our enemies for eons. They are known for their deceptions."

"Maybe so," Percy said. "But enemies can become friends. A week ago, would you have thought Romans and Amazons would be fighting side by side?"

Queen Hylla laughed. "He's got a point."

"The demigods of Camp Half-Blood have already been working with Camp Jupiter," Percy said. "We just didn't realize it. During the Titan War last summer, while you were attacking Mount Othrys, we were defending Mount Olympus in Manhattan. I fought Kronos myself."

Reyna backed up, almost tripping over her toga. "You... What?'

"I know it's hard to believe," Percy said. "But I think I've earned your trust. I'm on your side. Hazel and Frank — I'm sure they're meant to go with me on this quest, along with Daria. The other four are on their way from Camp Half-Blood right now. One of them is Jason Grace, your old praetor."

"Oh, come on!" Octavian shouted. "He's making things up, now."

"No," Daria stood. "He's right." She cleared her throat, suddenly self-conscious about the level of personalness in what she was going to share. "I had a dream," she started. "Jason is alive and well. He's

going to be on that warship-if we can't trust him, then who can we trust?" She glanced at her friend, "No offense, Perce." He waved her off.

Reyna frowned. "It is a lot to believe. Jason is coming back with a bunch of Greek demigods? You say they're going to appear in the sky in a heavily armed warship, but we shouldn't be worried."

"Yes." Percy looked over the rows of nervous, doubtful spectators. "Just let them land. Hear them out. Jason will backup everything I'm telling you. I swear it on my life."

"On your life?" Octavian looked meaningfully at the senate. "We will remember that, if this turns out to be a trick."

Right on cue, a messenger rushed into the Senate House, gasping as if he'd run all the way from camp. "Praetors! I'm sorry to interrupt, but our scouts report — "

"Ship!" Tyson said happily, pointing at the hole in the ceiling. "Yay! Sure enough, a Greek warship appeared out of the clouds, about a half a mile away, descending toward the Senate House. As it got closer, Daria could see bronze shields glinting along the sides, billowing sails, and a familiar-looking figurehead shaped like a metal dragon. On the tallest mast, a big white flag of truce snapped in the wind.

The Argo II. It was the most incredible ship she'd ever seen.

"Praetors!" the messenger cried. "What are your orders?"

Octavian shot to his feet. "You need to ask?" His face was red with rage. He was strangling his teddy bear. "The omens are horrible. This is a trick, a deception. Beware Greeks bearing gifts!"

He jabbed a finger at Percy. "His friends are attacking in a warship. He has led them here. We must attack!"

"No," Percy said firmly. "You all raised me as praetor for a reason. I will fight to defend this camp with my life. But these aren't enemies. I say we stand ready, but do not attack. Let them land. Let them speak. If it is a trick, then I will fight with you, as I did last night. But it is not a trick."

All eyes turned toward Reyna.

She studied the approaching warship. Her expression hardened. If she vetoed Percy's orders... well, Daria didn't know what would happen. Chaos and confusion, at the very least. Most likely, the Romans would follow her lead. She'd been their leader much longer than Percy.

"Hold your fire," Reyna said. "But have the legion stand ready. Percy Jackson is your duly chosen praetor. We will trust his word — unless we are given clear reason not to. Senators, let us adjourn to the forum and meet our. ..new friends."

The senators stampeded out of the auditorium — whether from excitement or panic, Daria wasn't sure. Tyson ran after them, yelling, "Yay! Yay!" with Ella fluttering around his head.

"Reyna wait," Daria caught her arm. This was a decision that she'd been going over the entire morning, but there was no one she trusted more. "I'm going to tell you something, right now, but I need you to trust me."

Her deep brown eyes held no trace of doubt, "I trust you with my life."

Daria took in a deep breath, "My godly parent." She continued to search her friend's face. "My mother is Gaea."

"They're coming down right in the forum," she heard Frank say nervously. "Terminus is going to have a heart attack."

Reyna remained unfazed, which Daria had never been more grateful for. Now it was her turn to inspect Daria. "I trust you with my life." She repeated. "Now let's go."

* * *

And finished! Sorry for that mini-cliffhanger, was is even a cliffhanger? idk. But anyway, Daria is SO fun to write.

The sequel- Sky Blue, is posted on my account!

-M


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